The Devil You Know
by KamiByul
Summary: Morgana's punishment by Merlin is to be sent to the future where she discovers a three year old Harry being beaten by his relatives. Taking the boy in herself she teaches him the things she thinks are important resorting in a much different Harry arriving at Hogwarts. This Harry will refuse to submit to Dumbledore's heinous plans and will find support in a totally different group.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter or Merlin (I didn't put it as a crossover because it's got little to do with it, Morgana will be the only one connected and even then it's my take on her) so anything you recognize is not mine! And you will recognize certain things as I will use quotes or sentences straight from the books or show. Can a disclaimer count for the whole story? I'll pretend they do and not put this up again.

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><p>Morgana's hair was drenched and clinging to her pale face. Her once immaculate hands were coated with dried blood and dirt. Her nails turned an awful brown as her fingers scratched into the mud. 'I hate you,' her voice clung desperately to the silence, demanding for the power she once had.<p>

'I know,' Merlin's hand was held out towards her, his fingers were stretched as much as they could, pointing up to the overcast sky.

'Merlin,' Arthur stepped up from behind his long time friend, 'you have to.' Arthur's blue eyes were shadowed with hatred for his half-sister.

'I hate you all,' Morgana's voice rang through the battlefield as she slammed her palms into the mud. Her body shook as she lowered her head, she couldn't bear to see the lifeless bodies of Mordred and Morgause. Her strongholds, her family, her lifelines, they were gone. The scent of death filled her nose with it's acrid smell sharpening her sense, reminding her exactly where she was.

'I know,' Merlin choked back his tears before he looked back at his friends. Was this really what Gaius would want? Was this what was necessary? He could hear Kilgharrah's booming voice reverberating through his ears, reminding him that Morgana was pure darkness, she was hatred, she could never love, and as long as she existed the world would never be at peace.

'Merlin,' Arthur clapped his gloved hand upon his friends shoulder. 'Do it.'

'I'm sorry,' Merlin fingers shook as if trying to close, trying to stop him from acting out on what everyone thought was best. 'Please, forgive me.' He licked his chapped lips, the strong taste of blood penetrated his senses as he stared into Morgana's cold steel blue eyes. 'I still see it,' the words flowed out of his mouth effortlessly in the ancient tongue. 'You could have been so much,' his voice was dripping with the empathetic regret that was hounding him. He didn't want to kill her, they had been through so much.

'I made my decision, I am no longer the girl I was,' Morgana hissed back. 'Just kill me!' Her voice cracked with the anguish that was overwhelming her.

'Do you ever regret what you did?' Arthur watched the two converse; ignorant to their words, he was gripping his sword prepared to kill Morgana if Merlin couldn't. His friend had always been far too compassionate, it was almost and could still be the death of them.

'No,' Morgana answered Merlin coldly but she was unable to hide her true feelings from the wizard.

'I understand,' Merlin whispered in english. 'Your regret is mine, and mine is yours,' he nodded before looking at Arthur. 'I am ready.' His long time friend smiled, releasing his hold on his swords handle.

'When you're ready,' Arthur squeezed his shoulder before letting go and backing away.

'Morgana, I hereby convict you of your sins,' Merlin continued in the ancient tongue. The duo could feel the magic in the air warping, sensing the importance of that moment. 'You revolted against our duty to serve and protect all that stands upon the earth. Do you plead guilty.'

'I do,' she lifted her chin, attempting to remain dignified in her last moments. She would fall like the queen she was.

'You deserve death,' Merlin's voice dropped with authority as he stepped towards her.

'I do,' Morgana nodded, her nose flaring as she breathed in deeply.

'You deserved peace, love, all that you lost by choosing your path. I, Merlin, hereby do punish Morgana Pendragan, the last High Priestess, and strip her of her magic.' Morgana gasped her eyes widening as she jerked forwards. She could feel her magic leave her body leaving her feeling empty and lost. She could feel it's presence around her, fluctuating in it's restraints, contained from the watchers.

'What is he doing?' Gwen grasped Arthur's hand shivering in fear as she watched the strange black mist warp around Morgana, 'what is that?'

'I don't know,' Arthur shook his head, his muddy blonde hair hung in his eyes as he watched his half-sister gasping weakly.

'I ban Morgana from ever returning to the world she came from, she shall never return in death, nor life.' Merlin clenched his jaw as he swallowed heavily, his adam's apple bobbed as he did. Opening his mouth his tongue moved on its own accord as he condemned his old friend, 'Morgana will be sent where the fates command, her heart will be bound with the love of another and she shall be given the chance she deserves to regain her loyalty. But not here, never here, she will never see anyone she once knew, and they shall not seek her out. Begone witch, and serve out your judgement' Merlin sucked in a deep breath as his hand dropped, he stepped back and his body shook as he watched Morgana stare at him, her eyes accusing and fearful.

'What have you done, what have you done!' She screamed, the sound was haunting and sent shivers through every person who could hear. 'What have you done! Merlin!' The black mist, her magic, seemed to thicken into a tangible substance before it collapsed into her. The moment it hit her a terrifying crack resounded through the air and she disappeared, the only sign that the ward of Uther Pendragon was ever there were the indents in the mud.

'She's gone,' Gwen fell against Arthur's side. 'She's gone, she's gone,' her voice came out as a whimper so unlike herself.

'What have I done,' Merlin collapsed, his knees falling into the mud as he clutched at his black, dirty hair. The words had flown out of his mouth by their own accord, he was unable to stop himself from the spell he had conducted, he really had meant to kill her.

'You did what was necessary, she's finally dead,' Arthur stared into the blank space with vacant eyes, unable to feel the victory that should have blossomed in his chest.

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><p>A scream pierced through the Dursley household as Harry pressed himself against the wall shaking as he awaited the next hit. 'Quiet, <em>boy<em>,' Vernon Dursely's voice was thick with the disgust he felt for the mongrel in front of him.

'Vernon,' Petunia raised her hand shakily, she hated Lily, she hated the inferiority she felt for her late sister but the guilt still arose every time she watched her husband beat the child.

'He's a freak, Petunia! You told me so yourself!' Vernon's spittle flew out of his mouth as he stared at Harry with passionate hatred. 'He doesn't belong in our household! He doesn't belong with us! He's ruining our image!' Petunia nodded weakly unable to refuse her husband his wants.

Moments later a sharp crack erupted in their backyard, 'It-it must be one of those freaks,' Petunia hissed as she back away from the door. 'They know, oh, they know. They're coming to hurt us,' she raised her bony hands to her face thanking the heavens that her own son was upstairs in his room, alone and safe.

'I'll take those monsters on,' he stormed to the backdoor and ripped it open. 'Who's out there!' There were a few moments of silence that was only broken by Petunias shriek of fear.

'It's a ghost! A ghost!' She fell against the wall as she watched a woman walk towards the house. The woman was as pale as the full moon that hung above their house, it's light reflected off her skin giving her an iridescent glow. Her hair had long since dried into tangled dark brown waves, and her black dress had long since lost it's magnificence. It hung on her fragile frame loosely, torn and full of holes. Her light blue eyes looked like the silver of an unforgiving blade as she looked at the people in front of her.

'Leave freak! Take your magic with you!' Vernon clenched his fist at her and jerked forwards as he tried to punch her. His breath caught in his fat throat as a faint thump signaled that the woman had caught his hand, looking as stoic as she had previously. Her head slowly turned to his as she stared him in the eyes.

'Back down, peasant,' her commanding voice rang through the room sending both Durselys into their true meek forms. Morgana looked around the room, scouring it for it's secrets. It's strange contraptions and designs registered in her mind before she caught sight of the child who was staring at her in awe. Her lip curled in disgust as she took in his bruises that were quickly turning colour. A familiar protective feeling overwhelmed her as she stared into his fearful green eyes. 'What were you doing to the boy,' she dropped Vernon's fist as she stepped towards the boy.

'We weren't doing anything,' Vernon's voice wavered with his fear, unable to conjure his usual strength.

'Tell me the truth,' she watched as Harry whimpered, anticipating her to beat him as well.

'He's a freak! We beat him when he gets out of control! That's it!'

'A freak? He is magical?' She reached out her hand to him then pinched his black locks with her slender fingers. Her lips pursed as silence followed her question. 'I asked if he was magical.'

'Y-yes!' Petunia managed to squeak out. 'He is!'

'That is all I need to know,' she delicately brushed his bangs out of his face then stood up. 'Where are his parents?'

'Dead, as they should be! They were freaks!' Vernon spat, gaining back some of his idiotic courage.

'You should be dead,' she whispered, the temptation to destroy him overwhelmed her. The only thing that made her refrain from acting out was that she no longer had her magic. Morgana had heard every word of Merlin's, and she knew what he meant now that she had seen the boy. The boy had lost his parents, and out of Merlin's ridiculous need to have everyone feel love he had bound the boys mothers love to her. 'I hate him,' she hissed in the ancient tongue as she stood up.

'What are you going to do to us?' Petunia whimpered as she slowly stepped towards her husband.

'I will take the boy,' Morgana took the boys hand and pulled him up, 'you will never ask after him. Make up whatever stories you see fit.' Her eyes closed as she felt the boys magic fluctuating, sensing her presence. She could steal his magic, pull it from his very body the same way Merlin had hers, but she couldn't. She growled lowly as the mother's love for the boy echoed through her mind, reminding her of her judgement.

'Just go.' Morgana's eyes froze Vernon on the spot.

'What is the boys name,' she pulled the boy to the backdoor, her face not showing the full extent of her anger. It was less about how her heart was bound by anothers love, and more that the boy was of her kind, punished as she was for something they could not control. She could not forgo the boy and leave him to possible death, she had fought for the safety of all witches and wizards and she wouldn't stop, not with him.

'H-Harry, Harry Potter,' Petunia gulped feeling her body go cold at the look of disgust she got from the woman.

'Harry,' the word rolled off Morgana's tongue unpleasantly. Harry was the name of the boy she would be forced to care for, he was the personification of the cell in which she was meant to live out her sentence. Harry was the name of the boy whose life was about to inexplicable changed, much to the joy of the fates watching, his life would no longer play out the way that was planned for him by the magical mortals of the world.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** I started this story as a test and I'm shocked by how much notice it's already gotten. Thanks so much to everyone who favorited, followed and commented! I hope my story lives up to your expectations and you enjoy it. This chapter will time skip as well, just a little but of a warning :)

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><p>'Where could he have gone,' Albus forced a a smile at Minerva's question as he sat restlessly in his seat. That was the question on his own mind, he had been in the minds of the Dursleys but for some reason the person who took Harry seemed not to exist, there was no shape or sound that he got from the intruder. It was an impossibility that he could not solve.<p>

'Perhaps we will not know until the time comes.' His answer was as enigmatic as he was, vague enough that Minerva could assume that he actually did know, but he was as perplexed as she was.

'Albus,' Minerva paced the room, unable to sit, 'he's still alive, we need to find him! What if something happens to him? He is our responsibility, and we tossed him to the Dursleys, and look where that got us.'

'He is still alive, his name is in the Hogwarts registry, is that not hope enough? The fates move in mysterious ways, we need to accept their decisions,' Albus' words were like a spoonful of cinnamon in his mouth, drying his mouth and leaving him short of breath. He had never believed in the fates, he never believed that old magic moved as it wished, he had always believed that magic only existed to be controlled. But talk of them always eased the nerves of his followers, encouraging them that what was out of their hands was being lead by a higher power.

'We need to save him,' Minerva dropped down into the chair across from Dumbledore.

'He is safe where he is now,' Dumbledore's eyes sparked with aggravation, he had to find Harry, but he couldn't let the Order know that he had failed. They had to believe in him, and Harry needed to as well, he needed a sheep to follow him, enact the plans he had for the battle against Voldemort. That was the only way that it would end correctly.

'Tell me straight out, Albus. Do you or do you not know where Harry Potter is,' Minerva, tired of his evading, set out her question as straight forwards as she could.

'Of course I do Minerva,' Albus spoke the lie smoothly, the fake twinkle in his eyes hid the anger that was rising at the whole situation.

'That was all you had to say,' Minerva stood up the smoothed out her robes before turning, preparing to leave the room.

'He will make it to Hogwarts, we will see Harry enter our halls in eight years.' Albus spoke up, watching as Minerva left the room. Harry was only three now, and he worried about how much he could be changed by an outside force if he stayed there till he was eleven. Things were not going as planned.

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><p>'Mama,' a seven year old Harry looked up from his book to watch Morgana pace the room. 'What are you doing?'<p>

'Harry,' her sharp blue eyes focused in on his curious green ones. 'Do you remember what I told you about our,' she paused as her eyes narrowed, 'situation.'

'Of course, mother,' Harry nodded, his messy hair bobbing with him.

'If you so wish to, we can legally become a family,' she sat down on her arm chair delicately, looking every bit the royalty she used to be.

'How?' He closed the first year level potions book he was reading, Magical Drafts and Potions. His green eyes took on the same cool analytical glaze his surrogate mothers did when she was being serious.

'I have no magic, but now that you are of decent...' Her eyebrow rose as she searched for the appropriate word, 'coherency,' Harry's smiled at his mothers wording, she always sounded so clinical. 'You can be guided by my instructions for the adoption spell. It is, of course, your decision.'

'When can we start?' His small hands folded together much like his mothers were in front of him as he tilted his head, staring at her.

'Right now,' her lips quirked into a smirk as she stood. 'Now, what do you know about adoption spells?' She walked towards the table beside Harry and picked up a bag that clacked with the things in side of it.

'There are many different types, some involve the sharing of blood, others do not.' Harry stood up and watched as his mother took some white chalk out of the bag and started drawing ancient runes upon the wooden floor, each encased with circles and symbols he didn't understand.

'And what is the difference between the sharing of blood and not?' Morgana placed candles in central parts of the design and then sat in one of the open spaces, Harry quickly followed and sat down opposite her. Right between them was an intricate circle that held a goblet in the middle.

'Sharing blood changes some physical aspects, the other does not,' he poked the goblet with his small fingers before looking up at her with wide curious eyes. 'Are we sharing blood?'

'Yes, we are,' she took a plain knife out of her bag and placed it down beside the goblet. 'Now you will speak what I have taught you. If you need help, ask for my assistance.'

'Yes, mother,' Harry nodded and straightened his back so he was completely upright like his mother.

'In the order of blending family,' he started in the ancient tongue, 'we call upon the magic of old to take part,' the lights in the room flickered off as the presence of magic surrounded them. 'We ask for the judgement of fate to take in the state of our hearts and determine our wishes.' Harry held up his two fingers, preparing to snap them. 'I, Harry James Potter, do wish to become apart of the Pendragon family, my matriarch being Morgana Pendragon.' He snapped his fingers and the candle beside him burst into flames, the old magic acknowledging the truth of his words.

'I, Morgana Pendragon, do accept Harry James Potter into my family, and accept the role of mother,' Morgana's lips threatened to curl into a smile as she felt the old magic flow between the two, warming her soul and reminding her of what she had been. Harry snapped his fingers and the candle to her left burst into flames, she breathed out a small sigh of relief. She had been unsure if the old magic would reject her, but it did not.

'The old magic has determined the participants as worthy of the melding,' Harry stated, his words passing through his mouth effortlessly, driven as much by him as by the magic surrounding them. 'By the acceptance of the old magic, whose opinion is to be respected, Harry James Pendragon shall now mix the blood that shall physical bind the Potter and Pendragon family together.' Harry picked up the dagger then swallowed and looked at his mother fearfully.

'Whenever you are ready,' Morgana smiled gently and lightly brushed her hand through his hair as she was so apt to do when he was stressed. Nodding, Harry pressed his lips together and held his palm over the goblet then put the knife against his palm. He closed his eyes, his eyebrows furrowing together as he sucked in a deep breath, gathering courage. His eyes were shining with determination as he pressed the knife against his palm and cut down it. Harry watched with wide eyes as his blood flowed out of his wound, dripping into the goblet.

When Harry had enough blood in the goblet he passed the knife to his mother and held his palm up to the ceiling, hoping the blood would stop flowing. He watched as Morgana effortlessly held her palm over the goblet, and cut into it. She squeezed her hand together, digging her nails into the skin so that the blood came out faster. Harry had always been amazed by his mother, she had strength that he could never dream of having. Even then when she was forcing the blood out of her, her eyes were as lucid and clear as ever, there was not a single haze that erupted in her eyes from pain. If anything she looked more calm then he had ever seen her. He remembered her stories she had told of the days of when she had magic and he could guess that it was the magic surrounding them that gave her, her serene countenance.

Morgana lifted the goblet, and handed it to Harry, 'you need only drink a little bit of this.' She assured him, she watched as he took the goblet from her hands then lifted it to his lips. The fact that he was gaining a real, legal family overshadowed the fact that he was drinking blood, so without much hesitance he drank the blood from the goblet. Lowering the cup he handed it to his mother before his pink tongue darted out of his mouth, catching any blood that was on his lips. Taking the cup from Harry she lifted it to her mouth and drank freely before lowering it back into the center of the circle. As soon as the bottom of the goblet hit the wooden floor, the candles on the outer circle burst into flames as the old magic acknowledged the end of the ceremony.

'It has ended,' Harry whispered, moments later the candles blew out as the old magic disappeared from the room and the lights flickered back on, no longer oppressed by the foreign power.

'It is now time for bed,' Morgana stood and held her hand out to Harry. He took it eagerly, letting her pull him up. 'When you awake in the morning the differences may be obvious, but we may never know,' she watched as his eyes filled with tears.

'I love you mother,' within moment he had lunged at her and wrapped his arms around her waist tightly, his head barely touching her stomach. Morgana's mouth went dry as she silently ran her fingers through his hair. It had been four years since she had taken him under her wing and the child had become extremely attached to her.

'I love you too, Harry,' the words that were once only the manifestation of Lily Potter's love for her son were now also true for Morgana. She had become attached to the boy, perhaps more so than he was to her. He was her new family, however, unlike her sister half-sister Morgause, Harry made her better not worse. 'Now go to bed, you have school tomorrow,' she leaned down and kissed his forehead, avoiding the mark on the left of his forehead.

'Yes, mama, goodnight!' Harry smiled up at her lopsidedly before letting go of her and running to his room.

'Good night,' Morgana stood straight as she watched him leave, as soon as he closed his door behind him she started cleaning up the leftovers of the ritual. When he was in bed she had business to attend to, hopefully she could clear up how the boy had even gotten into the hands of his relatives. She was aware of the possibility that if she ever found the orchestrator of the event that she would not be merciful.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Some of the quotes in this chapter will be straight out of the book, others will not. So disclaimer for Rowling, cause I certainly never wrote the series.

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><p>Morgana's nails tapped against the desk rhythmically as she awaited the goblin. She could hear their whispers outside as they walked down the hall, they had better return with the papers she needed. It had taken Morgana far too long to create an identity in this new world, with her official documents coming in the mail the previous week lead her to officially making Harry her son in the muggle world. She took a chocolate frog container out of her bag and opened it, deftly catching the frog before biting into it's head. As she chewed on the chocolate she picked the card out of it and smirked as she stared at the character.<p>

'Morgan le Fay,' her words came out in a scornful whisper as she flipped the card in her fingers. Merlin had taken great efforts to change the worlds perspective of her, unlike the hair that was as dark as the magic she studied, the Morgana in the card had auburn hair. The last name was completely off as well, she had never once been referred to as Morgan le Fay, she had never even heard the name before, and she had gone by many names. Merlin had made sure that nobody would recognize her in this future.

'Pendragon,' the coarse voice of the Goblin attending her walked into the room snapping her out of her thoughts.

'Blordak,' her voice was relaxed, not revealing the anxiety that was welling up inside of her. If this didn't pan out then who knew what could happen to Harry, he was only her son in the wizarding world, that left another world open to the possibility of her son being taken from her. 'Is everything going as planned?'

'Most assuredly,' he wobbled over the the table then sat down before laying the scroll down in front of her. 'The,' his tongue clicked against his sharp feral looking teeth, 'Dursleys have signed it.' Morgana placed her index finger on the paper and pulled it towards her, the pale yellow colour of the parchment contrasting with the bright red nail polish that was decorating her nails.

'Excellent, what else must I do?' Her eyes narrowed as she read the words on the page, taking note that it looked the same as it had the first time she saw it, save the new signatures of the Dursleys and officials that saw to it.

'You need only sign it.'

'Who is currently in my place as the representative of the House of Potter?' Morgana picked up the quill beside her and dipped it into the ink, awaiting the response of the goblin. She had been curious ever since they had performed the ceremony a week ago as to who was making the decision in the Wizengamot in Harry's name.

'Emmeline Vance,' her eyes narrowed as she swiftly signed her name on the line.

'From the most noble House of Vance?'

'There has not been a House of Vance since the fourteenth century,' Blordak's long pointed nose seemed to twitch as he stared her down.

'Of course not,' Morgana placed the quill down and leaned back in her seat.

'Am I right to assume,' the harsh guttural sounds of Gobbledygook filled the room as he spoke. 'That the last scion of Potter has been taken into the family of the dark witch Morgan le Fay?'

'My dear Blordak,' Morgana purred out her response in Gobbledygook, 'I can assure you that I am not and have never been called by the name le Fay before.'

'Our records show that the name of Morgan changed mid way through the century that she was killed.'

'Well,' Morgana stood up and pushed the paper towards him. 'If your records show Morgan has been killed, how can I be her? I appreciate your hard work today, I'll be most glad to have the finished paperwork sent to me.' Her lips curled into smile as she watched him stand up and open the door for her.

'We'll be most glad to have it finished for you,' he followed her down the hallway towards the central foyer of the bank. 'It was a pleasure doing business with you High Priestess.' Morgana remained silent, the only sign that she had heard him was the confident smirk that was implanted on her naturally pink lips.

'I will be bringing Harry to the bank in four years time, perhaps you will anticipate his coming,' she gripped the lapels of her coat, tugging the coat tighter around her body as she walked.

'Of course,' the goblin bowed as he watched her exit Gringotts, a wicked smile was already blooming on his face as he imagined the surprise the return of one of the greatest witches of all time to the wizarding world. 'Welcome back, Lady Morgana,' he whispered his words in Gobbledygook before turning back to his work place.

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><p>'Where are we going first?' Harry was following alongside his mother, his keen eyes catching the curious looks of the magical people surrounding them.<p>

'To get your wand, of course,' Morgana's fingers were entwined behind her back as she walked, giving her the image of complete sophistication. Harry was no different, after eight years under her tutelage he had indeed grown to be a cultured young pre-teen.

'When will I get my books?' Harry's green eyes flickered indignantly as he caught some of the men they were passing looking at his mother far too appreciatively. He was well aware his mother was attractive, with her high cheekbones, full coloured lips, and sharp blue eyes she had gained a lot of admirers. He had taken to tricking them away in secret, to him there was no man worthy of his mothers hand in marriage, no one was worthy of the hand of the great Morgana.

'After you stop glaring at the people around us,' a small smile curled Morgana's red lips as she looked down at her son. True to the inheritance ceremony they had conducted his body had changed to adapt to her dna. His hair had become a little more manageable and he had already grown just a bit taller, she could tell he was going to be athletic, lean, and very tall, at least 6 foot; much like her younger half-brother. His jaw had sharpened just a bit, and his eyebrows were just a touch thinner giving him the same aristocratic handsomeness that she had. But he still looked much like his birth parents, he wouldn't look out of place if they were still living.

'I will after they stop leering at you,' his lips pulled into a childish pout as they walked up the steps of the bank. She sometimes forgot his age, she had always treated him like an adult. Sometimes she swore that he only whined and pouted so that she would remember his age, and thus remember how much he has done for his age.

'Nobody is leering at anybody,' she waited as her son opened the door for the Ollivanders wand shop then made space for him to enter after she stepped in. Her nose flared at the dusty scents assailing her nose, she had wished she could have gotten his wand from a toy shop but he had insisted that he needed a real one for school. 'Do what you do,' she spoke the latin proverb softly as she picked up on of the wand boxes.

'And I shall,' Harry stepped forwards to the counter remaining impassive to the man that seemed to pop up out of nowhere. He and his mother had a long conversation about whether or not to keep his wandless magic secret, after they determined he should she declared he should get a fake wand. She especially wanted it to be a fake muggle wand so that when any purebloods commented on his wand they would be complimenting muggle culture, but he had said he wanted a real wand. He wanted to share in every part of the Hogwarts experience.

'Ah, I would recognize those features anywhere, Harry Potter has entered my shop today,' Ollivander smiled as his eyes flickered up to look at Morgana.

'Mr. Ollivander, how will we be finding my wand today?' Harry folded his hands behind his back trying to keep on point, he could already tell that the man was prone to wander in the mind.

'I will take your measurements,' as he spoke measuring tapes started floating in the air, measuring his arm length and height. 'And then I will give you some wands and you will give them a small flick to see if they feel right to you.' Morgana's eyebrow raised as he started grabbing wand boxes, not showing any signs of looking at the measurements.

'Trial and error,' she whispered in Harry's ear, 'this may take awhile. You still have the choice to leave.'

'Of course,' Harry smirked as he picked up the first wand Ollivander laid in front of him.

'Beech wood 12 inches,' he barely finished speaking before Harry put the wand down and closed the box before pushing it back to him. 'Yes, well, it usually takes a few tries to find the right wand.' Ollivander smiled at Harry before handing another wand to him, Harry didn't even bother to let Ollivander start describing it before he put it back in the box.

'This may be an unprecedented request,' Morgana's voice came out in a drawl as she stared at Ollivander seriously. 'But obviously this method takes a long time and we have places to be. I have no qualms about your approach but I think this would go better if Harry were to choose his wand.'

Ollivanders lips thinned as he looked at Harry, 'yes, of course,' he stepped back from the counter allowing Harry through. 'I never got your name.'

'I never gave it,' Morgana responded cheekily, closing her eyes as she felt Harry's magic flood through the shop. In order for a wizard to choose their proper wand they hold it so the wand can test their magic, see if it fits. But for a more skilled wizard, or one who controlled their magic as she had taught Harry to, they could extend their magic so it can react with all of the wands surrounding them.

'I found it, mother,' Harry pulled out a box that had gold sparks almost leaking out of the top.

'Good job, Harry,' she smiled proudly ignoring Ollivanders start as he heard Harry's term for her.

'What wand has chosen you?' Ollivander smiled at Harry, eager to see which of his wands had reacted to the young wizard. He never once mentioned the control that Harry had over his magic, or that he had apparently been adopted.

'Holly,' Harry's eyes scanned the words on the box, putting it down on the table as his mother put the 7 gallons needed onto the counter.

Ollivander opened the box and nodded, '11" Holly, phoenix feather core, curious, very curious.'

'What is?' Harry questioned, avoiding looking at his mother. He knew if he looked he would get a look of disapproval, he had been taught that asking questions showed interest, and one must always be careful who they show interest to.

'I remember every single wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather, just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother gave you that scar.' Ollivander put the lid back onto the box before collecting the money Morgana had given him.

'Right,' Harry glanced at his mother who raised her eyebrow at him. 'Thank you for your assistance today,' Harry picked up his wand then left with his mother.

'The people here think the dark lord is dead,' Morgana's words were light with scorn towards the magic folk.

'Why? Isn't it obvious that he is alive?' He followed her into Flourish and Blotts, the bookstore.

'No, they appear to not know of his dabbles in one of the darkest of arts.' Morgana grimaced in disgust as she walked along the aisles where they had bookshelves that contained the specific books needed for Hogwarts, 'even I would not use such magic.'

'Of course not,' Harry grabbed the books he didn't have, A History of Magic, and The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. 'What does it require to cast it?'

'You need only kill an innocent,' Morgana walked towards the cashier, pulling out the three galleons needed to buy the book.

'Need only,' Harry repeated quietly as he tucked his books under his arm. He looked away from the cashier he was walking towards as he spotted a young girl who was struggling with all of the books she was carrying. Without any forethought he rushed over to her and took some of the books from her, 'where are you heading?'

'Excuse me?' The girl's brown eyes widened in shock as she stared at the boy who had helped her. Noticing her surprise a teasing grin curled his lips, sending the young girl blushing. It was as if he had come right out of the books she read, he was polite and courteous, not to mention charming.

'I'll help you with your books, are you going to the cashier?' Harry smiled and laughed, finding the girl's reaction amusing. He did not have very many encounters with girls his age, but he always enjoyed the way they seemed to fumble around him. It was nice to see a girl more composed, even if she was turning a very lovely shade of pink.

'Yes, I'm Hermione, Hermione Granger,' she walked up to the cashier before dropping the books she was carrying onto the counter with a thump.

'I'm Harry Pendragon,' Harry put down her books then held his hand out to her, when she took it he lifted her hand to his mouth and brushed the back of her hand with his lips before letting go.

'Are you sure it's not Wickham,' she squeaked out before blushing a more furious red. Harry laughed and looked back at his mother who had an approving smile on her face. In her eyes any young girl who could read Pride and Prejudice was a jewel, not many young kids read such classics, and even less could understand them.

'I'm quite sure I would know if my son was a lying thief,' Morgana picked up the books she had just bought as two muggle parents, no doubt Hermiones, rushed up to the front counter.

'Are you sure you need all of those books at school?' The father smiled and laughed at his daughter who pouted and nodded.

'Of course! I can't enter the school unprepared!'

'Hello, I'm Greg and this is my wife Marianne,' Greg held out his hand and Morgana took it, shaking it before shaking his wife's hand as well.

'Do people ever ask if Stan Lee named you?' She mused smiling as he started laughing.

'No, but people wonder if Shakespeare named my daughter,' he shrugged before looking at the price of the books his daughter was buying. He sucked in a breath between his teeth before placing the money down.

'Where are you going to next?' Harry helped place the books in the bag.

'Home, we made the bookshop our last stop, we all knew it was going to be the longest one after all,' Marianne smiled at her daughter who rolled her eyes and picked up the heavy bag dedicated to carrying her new books.

'It was nice to meet you Harry,' Hermione smiled at him before looking up at her father.

'It was nice meeting you too Hermione, I'll see you on the train, right?'

'Of course!' In a burst of happiness Hermione hugged Harry tightly who awkwardly patted her back. He never really sought out physical contact with his mother so he was unsure how to react with her actions.

'Well it was nice to meet you Greg, Marianne, I'm sure our children will become more acquainted at Hogwarts.' Morgana smiled at the parents and subconsciously started running her fingers through Harry's hair, relaxing the socially confused boy.

'It was nice meeting you as well, and I hope our children get the same house.' Greg spoke the last word confidently. A pureblooded wizard may have found offense to a muggle being so at ease with their lingo but it stood true that the muggle world also had some schools that ran on a house system.

'Goodbye, Hermione,' Harry waved to her, smiling when she waved by ecstatically.

'Harry,' Morgana stayed still until the Grangers were gone, 'you are going to be careful with you associate with.' She spoke bluntly but he could sense the question at the end, asking if he was going to follow through with her demand.

'Of course, do you not approve of her?'

'I do, she is a bright witch, I see Ravenclaw in her future.' She spoke dismissively as she started walking out of the store. She herself had been a Ravenclaw when she had been at Hogwarts, she had even served under Rowena Ravenclaw herself, she knew a Ravenclaw when she saw one. 'I want you to remember that the friends you make will become burdens if you make the wrong ones. You have to keep your head clear and look underneath their masks.' Harry nodded fully acknowledging his mothers point. He would be spending the next seven years with those people and he didn't want to end up with an old friend becoming an archenemy, much like what had happened between Merlin and his Mother.


	4. Chapter 4

'Rules?' Morgana tugged her long dark purple scarf off then wound it around Harry's neck.

'Don't think, speak, or eat?' Harry smirked as she grasped the ends of the scarf, tugging it roughly so it nestled into the crook of his neck. Her fine black eyebrow rose, challenging him to continue joking around.

'Be careful who you speak to, don't end up in Gryffindor,' she tugged roughly on the scarf again. He laughed loudly before grabbing his cart, 'be mindful of what you say, someone is always listening. Message you if anything happens, and be careful of the Headmaster, he's suspicious.'

'Play into his delusions if you have to, just be careful,' she splayed her fingers through her hair, the dark purple of her nail polish stood out in his black hair. 'What else?'

'Be careful who you become friends with, if they run their mouth they are dangerous. Exuberance can always be toned down with maturity, so not all energetic people are bad choices.'

'Good,' she stood up and started walking along with him, her heeled boots clacking against the floor of the train corridor. Morgana remained silent, her coloured pink lips drew together as she stared ahead of them.

'Yes, I'll look for Hermione,' Harry looked up at his mother, watching as her lips curled into a pleased smirk.

'So far your choices in friends has been wise,' without pausing she walked through the wall to platform 93/4. Harry blinked pausing before running after his mother, he trusted her wholeheartedly and if she was willing to walk through a wall so was he. 'I hope wizards can do math,' Morgana brushed one of her perfectly coiffed curls out of her face. She had been able to deduce where the platform was because of math, she doubted that all wizards did that. She had a pretty good idea that it was only the tradition of being led to Hogwarts by their parents, then leading their children that helped the parents remember where to go.

'Are they really that deficient?' Harry frowned as he watched the hoard of people that were yelling and crying. Parents were hugging their kids tightly and children were fighting against them, struggling to hide their reddening cheeks. The older teens were watching the kids with bemused smiles, reminiscing the days when they were as nervous and anxious. There were the groups that were more poor, with obvious second hand clothes. The rich group were standing in the back with practiced sneers towards the middle and lower class, too righteous to bend down and give their children a proper healthy goodbye. Overall, it seemed like a normal group of people.

'The magic folk have lost their dignity,' Morgana's cold grey eyes scanned the room with obvious contempt, she saw herself superior to the people around them, and it wasn't hard to believe she was.

'I'll choose the right friends,' Harry wrapped his arms around her waist, breathing in the familiar sweet scent of her perfume. 'I promise,' like the child he was he took comfort in his mother by rubbing his cheek lightly against her soft black coat.

'I know you will,' her voice was tender with understanding as she wrapped her arms around him, rubbing the small of his back. 'I have faith in you, you will do well. No matter the house you go in, I will always be proud of you. Know that Harry, and remember that when people preach to you on the train to go to certain houses. Keep true to yourself and let the hat do what it thinks is best,' she kissed his forehead then stood up straight.

'Of course,' he nodded in agreement, smiling as his mother ran her fingers through his hair for the last time. 'Good bye mama, I will make you proud.'

'I know you will,' Morgana smiled at him and watched as he walked towards the school train confidently, looking every bit the gentleman she had raised him to be. She was going to miss Harry, she could feel the emotional hum of agreement that her connection to his late mother gave her. With this as her punishment for destroying Camelot, she would do it every time.

Harry looked back at his mother with a fond smile, catching the way she ducked her head in thought, causing her hair to fall into her face again emphasizing her high cheekbones. He would miss his mother, he would miss being called Harry Pendragon, but he would enjoy the chance to learn. His mother had warned him that there was a good chance that the headmaster would ignore Harrys name change and have the records showing the last name Potter. He would learn to deal with it if only so he would grow as much as he could so he could impress her, so that one day he could meet his mother as her equal.

'Harry!' His head snapped back to the train as he heard Hermione call out to him.

'Hermione,' he smiled at her, his green eyes sparked with anticipation as he imagined what he would find out about her. He hadn't learned how to judge people like his mother but he was hoping with practice he would be able to see what she did immediately. He supposed that when people get betrayed they learn quickly to identify people personalities, he just hoped Hermione wouldn't betray him, not after all his mother had said about her.

'Do you want to sit together?'

'Of course,' he nodded his head slowly in affirmation before holding out his arm. Harry's mother wanted him to stand out, she wanted him to be the epitome of honour and sophistication, he wasn't about to drop that image after entering school. Even if his mannerisms would fit right into the regency era. 'Have you made any other friends yet?' Harry smiled at her not looking offended by her refusal of his arm.

Hermione's face was overshadowed with conflict. Part of her wanted to beam, smile as hard as possible because he indirectly called her his friend another side of her was bitter with the fear that she would never be able to make any friends. She was almost confident that once Harry got to know her more he would leave her, an instant termination of their friendship. 'Not yet.'

'My mother said discovering friends early is important,' Harry let one of his few secrets to be known to her. It wasn't a secret that made any real impact to anyone, and was one that many people already followed but Harry had learnt from his mother that secrets were only to be shared with the closest of people and because of his mother's approval Hermione was quickly becoming his confidant.

'Are you looking for someone in particular?'

'Yes,' Harry opened the door of an empty compartment and let Hermione in first. 'My mother mentioned someone else she wanted me to become acquainted with, if only for shock value.' Morgana had said something about him becoming friends with the Malfoy scion in order to throw the Headmaster off, he had no idea why she had something against him. For all he knew she was just bitter towards Merlin and saw the headmaster as a proper replacement, he had heard people saying he looked like Merlin at Diagon Alley.

'I see,' Hermione nodded and took a book out of a bag she had with her.

'You're reading?' Harry frowned, his nose twitching as she nodded, running her finger along her bookmark that was firmly implanted in the large book on her lap. 'I was hoping we could talk longer,' he muttered quietly to himself as he ran his fingers through his hair, reminiscent of what his mother would do. The two fell silent, Hermione taken up in her book and Harry mentally going through possible plans. How was he to find Malfoy? Would the scion come to him?

The door banged open as a short pudgy boy with full cheeks stared at them with obvious embarrassment. 'Ex-excuse me? Have you seen my frog? His name is Trevor.'

'No, I'm sorry,' Hermione shook her head, staring up at the ceiling in thought.

'We could always help you,' Harry looked over at Hermione who met his gaze with an approving smile.

'Really? I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom,' the young heir of the Longbottom fortune stuttered out with a thankful smile.

'I'm Harry Potter, this is Hermione Granger,' Harry held his hand out, keeping a straight face at the thin line of sweat that coated the nervous boys hand.

'Pleased to meet you,' Neville removed his hand quickly before wiping his own off on his pants, embarrassed by shaking a hand while his was so sweaty.

'When was the last time you saw Trevor?' Hermione questioned as she put her book away, preparing to help out.

'I was putting my bags away in the compartment, he was in my pocket.' Neville licked his chapped lips nervously, a guilty glint in his eyes. 'I don't like Trevor, he was given to me by my Great-Uncle Algie. I was hoping he'd get lost but then I would get in trouble.' Neville looked at the ground sheepishly as Hermione stared at him indignantly.

Before she could start scolding the boy she had just met Harry burst out into laughter, 'alright, let's right your mistake before you start getting more guilty.' Neville looked up at Harry, feeling relief at the amused lopsided grin that was on the younger boys lips. 'It would be best if we went together, we'll only search for a little while then I think we should all relax. He's bound to show up if we wait long enough.'

'Okay,' Neville nodded his head readily letting Harry take leadership over the situation.

'Neville,' Harry paused as just a step out of their compartment. 'Would you say you're a fickle type of person?'

'I-uh,' Neville frowned and looked at Hermione who just smiled apologetically at him. She had a feeling that the more time she spent with Harry she less she knew him so she really was not much help for the confused boy. 'I don't think I am?'

'That's good to know,' Harry mused before walking along the corridor again. 'Let's go find Trevor.' His sense may not be as good as his mother's but he had a pretty good feeling about Neville. If exuberance could be grown out of, so could nervousness, Neville just needed the right encouragement and he would make a good friend. He just knew it.

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><p>Ahaha so apparently this came up as coding for awhile, my apologies. Thanks to dreaming of rocketships for letting me know! I'll try and watch out for that ^^"<p> 


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** I have indeed stolen some quotes from the drama Shut up! Flower boy band, I just love Maro I can't help but quote him. I still have no idea where the saying comes from...

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><p>Harry caught sight of platinum blonde hair before anything else, 'Hermione, if he says anything stupid ignore him.' Licking his lips he fastened a smirk on his face before opening the door. 'Hello, is Draco Malfoy in here?'<p>

'I'm Draco Malfoy,' the blonde stood up his eyes glistening with anticipation. He already knew who was knocking on his door, Harry Potter. If the meeting went well and they became friends then his father would be pleased with him. The lack of warning that Harry gave for meeting Draco was the only thing that made him restrain his need to impress everyone with his wealth, he was too busy planning out what to say.

'I'm Harry Potter,' Harry held his hand out to the older boy before continuing to talk, 'I was hoping we could talk in private.' Draco shook his hand solidly, his hands cold and dry compared to Nevilles clammy hands.

'I would,' Draco pressed his lips together halting in his speech, he wouldn't be honoured, he was a Malfoy, he never catered to others they catered to him. 'Never be able to live with myself if I said no,' he finished smoothly with a smirk.

'Good,' Harry stepped back then walked back to the compartment he shared with Hermione and Neville. The sound of Draco's expensive shoes followed after him, when the two of them entered the compartment Draco looked confused to have Neville and Hermione walking in after him, there was a silent questioning of what Harry meant by private. 'Draco these are my friends Neville and Hermione. I hope you'll treat them with respect.' Harry sat down and watched as Draco stared at them debating what to do.

Draco knew his family was dark, they opposed the light and the Longbottom family were proud supporters of light. It was only natural for the dark to fight with the light, not to mention that Neville was almost a squib. To associate with a watered down wizard like Neville that was on the opposing side was risky, so the question of if it was worth it to be friends with Harry was hard to weigh. On top of that he didn't recognize Hermione from any of the pureblooded families but he didn't have a last name to screen her with, for all he knew Harry had done that on purpose. 'Draco Malfoy,' he held his hand out to the young witch in greeting watching her reaction carefully.

'Hermione,' she put her hand and smiled as she refrained from saying her last name.

'Pleased to meet you,' he released her hand quickly, struggling with the idea that just maybe he had shaken hands with a mudblood. He reluctantly held his hand out to Neville, grimacing when he felt the younger boys loose grip. 'Good to see you again, Neville.' Draco released his hand as soon as he could then sat down directly opposite Harry. Neville claimed the seat next to Harry before Hermione could, eager to stay away from the boy that always made fun of him at public functions. 'So, where have you been living all of these years?'

'I was adopted,' Harry watched as Hermione sat down beside Draco, keeping her eyes on the book she had pulled out. Since she heard his warning she had decided to withdraw herself and not give the new boy a chance to insult her.

'When did you discover you could do magic?' Draco looked at Neville, trying to keep the conversation flowing with everyone lest Harry throw him out. He was coming this far so he wasn't about to give Harry a talk about choosing the right folk, he had a bad feeling about it.

'My Great-Uncle Algie held me outside the window then dropped me, my first bout of magic was making myself bounce off the ground,' Neville stuttered out as he went red, looking at the ground out of mortification. He wasn't embarrassed that Algie had done that, but rather that he was so weak he deserved it. Really he didn't, but when children are talked down their whole lives it often leaves them broken and with warped thoughts.

'My parents were proud with all the stuff I did as a kid,' Hermione piped up as she looked at the group. 'They thought it was interesting, they always encouraged me,' she beamed at them, unknowingly convincing Draco that she must have been at the very least, a halfblood. It didn't occur to him that some muggle parents would be able to stomach their children having magic, least of all encourage it before they even knew that magical folk existed.

'I, of course, lived up to the Malfoy honour and was able to conjure my toys at a young age,' Draco smirked his usual arrogance quickly making itself known, he couldn't completely hide his immature attitude for long. 'What about you, Harry?' Draco's father had told him to be careful when meeting the young Potter scion because the boy could be a dark lord in the making, and he could see it. Harry had an arrogance to him, unlike Draco's it seemed natural, honourable even. It seemed like he had every right, it attributed to the charisma he had.

'I never did,' Harry smirked at the identical looks of shock that flashed across the groups faces. 'My mother taught me when I was young how to control myself, she said the strongest wizards were not the ones that had the greatest accidental magic, they were the ones who learned how to resist the easy way out. She would be proud of how you held it in,' Harry glanced at Neville making the boy go red, barely containing the physical embodiment of his negative thoughts.

'Does that mean she taught you some spells?' Hermione's eyes lit up with enthusiasm as she pulled out her wand. 'I've been practicing some, I couldn't wait to open up my school books.'

'What classes are you looking forward to?' Draco's pale eyebrows went up as he mentally solidified his assumption that she was from a magical family. The only way she could have practiced the spells was if she was in a magical house, he didn't even consider the fact that she practiced with a pencil every time.

'Potions obviously, and charms, transfiguration is the other one that's high on my list. I always loved reading about witches that could turn people into animals!' Hermione's eyes brightened as she thought of Ronald Dahls the Witches, not even realizing that she was encouraging Draco's viewpoint that she was a halfblood.

'Are you practicing magic?' The calm that the quartet had was disrupted instantly by the eager young red head that barged into their compartment. 'My brothers taught me a spell. Are you really Harry Potter?' Instantly the redhead looked at Harry, ignoring everyone else in the compartment, 'I'm Ron Weasley. Have you really got the, you know,' Ron pointed to his forehead as the whole compartment gaped at him. Not only had he completely stormed into the room uninvited but he had the sheer audacity to ask an orphan if he really had the scar that reminded him daily that his parents were murdered in front of him.

'I hardly think that's an appropriate question to ask,' Hermione snapped, accentuating what she said by slamming her book shut with a faint thump. If she had not met Harry that day in the library she never would have been as calm as she was. She had only just bought the books that said his name the day she met him so it gave her a pretty good look into his character. She had realized pretty fast that most of what was said was junk.

'Yeah,' Neville muttered quietly in agreement, thrown off by the whirlwind that was Ronald Billius Weasley. Of course Hermione would had been much the same and very overwhelming as well but having a friend before hand helped tone her down. She had also taken to heart what her parents said, when in Rome do as the Romans do. It didn't mean she was hiding herself by not being as exuberant as usual, it meant that she was keeping herself controlled until she knew people would be comfortable with her.

With the amount that Hermione had been bullied in school for her intellect she had to learn that there was a time and a place for everything. Her wisdom grew each time one of her peers mouthed off at her or criticized her views, she learned how to adapt. She learned that it wasn't wrong, fearful, or stupid to tone herself down. When her peers cried out in shock and hostility at her wise words about keeping oneself guarded, her teachers were shocked into silence at the girls miraculous understanding of something that took most adults years to learn. But, she did have a hard time of putting her words into practice, the comfort of having a real friend certainly helped.

'There is an old saying that when humans die, dolphins will rule the world,' Harry started as he looked out the window, before fixing his green eyes on the young Weasley. Ron gulped feeling the intensity of the glare Harry was giving him, which was no surprise Harry had Morgana's patented glare down pat.

'What does that even mean?' Ron scoffed and crossed his arms, shocked that the boy-who-lived was saying some weird proverb, let alone was so hostile.

'Us humans are still standing,' Harry stated blandly, only Ron remained oblivious to the fact that Harry was calling Ron the dolphin, hinting the red head was lower than them.

'He means go away,' Draco drawled as he smirked at the Weasley.

'Malfoy!' Ron hissed, his face turning an unattractive red as his noticed the blonde for the first time, 'what are you doing in here.'

'I was invited.'

'Invited, you're corrupting Harry's mind! Turning him evil with all your stupid Slytherin mumbo jumbo! He's going to be in Gryffindor like all the great wizards!'

'I would appreciate it if you did not doubt my choice of acquaintances,' Harry stood up and stared Ron down, already taller than the boy. Draco gulped from behind Harry, instantly sighing a mental breath of relief that he hadn't insulted Ron like he had wanted to. Obviously the Potter scion didn't approve of insulting people, unless it was in the form of some ludicrous proverb.

'Fine, whatever,' scoffing in disbelief Ron marched away from their compartment making sure to slam the door as hard as possible.

'I thought you said you were supposed to make friends,' Hermione frowned watching as Harry dropped down in his seat relaxed, as if he hadn't just death glared a random boy.

'Mother told me to use discernment with who I chose,' Harry looked back out the window, getting caught up in the scenery outside. 'She was very specific when telling me that some people would be inclined to betray. He has a jealous heart, he would have betrayed me once too much.' The trio stared at each other in disbelief at Harry's clinical choices, unlike them he had made that choice without an ounce of emotion, settling only for what would benefit him. Yet at the same time there was truth to it, as much as Hermione wanted to argue that everyone should be given a chance it was doubtful that Ron would be able to keep his mouth shut long enough to mature until he was well older, perhaps even out of school.

'It's about time we should get dressed in our robes,' Draco walked out of the compartment not looking back. Harry's statement was very clear, Draco had figured Harry had ulterior motives for meeting with him and that settled it. There was no way he fit into the category of not betraying anyone, no matter how loyal Draco really was nobody seemed able to see that.

'He's right,' Harry stood up before smiling at the two people left over. 'Meet back here after we change?'

'I,' Hermione gaped looking rather like a fish before nodding, 'of course!' She smiled before running out of the room, Harry had seemed so lethargic and serious earlier, to see him smiling again was relieving. She knew most people would think he was manipulative but she recognized that look, he had grown up too fast. Some moments he would forget himself and act like a child again, she only recognized it because she did the same thing.

'Why?' Neville licked his lips and looked down at his feet, freezing as Harry ran his fingers through Neville's hair much like how Morgana did for Harry.

'My mother taught me to see every side a person has, I want to help you find the one you're hiding.' Harry smiled at him lopsidedly before walking away. 'Come on or we're going to lose our compartment.'

'C-coming!' Neville stuttered out before running after Harry.

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><p>'Have you wondered what house you're going to be in?' Hermione questioned as she followed close to Harry.<p>

'My parents were both in Gryffindor.' Neville shrugged his shoulders weakly, the silent it's what is expected of me was obvious.

'My mother told me to trust the sorting hat implicitly, that houses have become so diluted nowadays that no matter where I go there will be misunderstandings, so I may as well suffer in the place that suits me than the place I think will.' Harry shrugged his shoulders before grinning, his eyes clearly softening when thinking of his mother. He really was a mama's boy and he wasn't ashamed, he refused to bend to the stereotypes that men had to be pillars that lacked emotions. She had told him enough stories of how that caused people to fall.

'First years, first years over here!' The three of them went quiet at the heavy accent the large man was producing. Ducking his head to avoid the gaze of the half giant Harry climbed into the boat looking for Draco as he heard the instruction for four to a boat.

'You're looking for him, aren't you,' Neville went red after realizing he had been so blunt with Harry.

'Shock value,' Hermione stated matter of factly, not saying a word when a stranger settled into their boat silently, not saying anything.

'You never said what house you wanted to be in,' Harry leaned against the side of the boat barely sparing a glance to the newcomer.

'I was going to say Gryffindor,' she trailed off making it clear that Ron had deterred her from the house of the lions. She looked at the new person, opening her mouth to speak.

'Don't talk to me, I'm sharing a boat with you because I have to, pretend I'm not even here,' the girl snapped before looking out at the lake.

'Tracey,' Neville whispered, wincing as she turned her glare on him.

'You never actually said what house you wanted to be in,' Hermione pointed out, trying to shake off the uncomfortable fear that she would once again be the loser at school.

'Neither did you,' Harry ran his hand through his hair, the act was an attempt to stave off the anxiety that was filling him. His mother may have said that she didn't care what house he got placed in but he knew he wanted to be a Ravenclaw. He wanted to follow in her footsteps, have the kind of wisdom that made a person's soul seem as strong and charismatic as his mothers.

'None of us did,' Neville added in blushing when he gained the attention of the whole boat.

'Yeah,' Harry laughed and nodded, 'we're all one and the same, huh?'

'I don't think so,' Neville whispered making it obvious that he was severely lacking in confidence.

'I'll fix you,' Harry adjusted his black tie. 'Just call me the Doctor.'

'Doctor who?' Neville frowned oblivious to why Hermione and Harry were suddenly snickering. 'What?'

'It's nothing Neville,' Harry was the first to see the castle, the familiar feeling of the old Religion settled over his body with the warmth and comfort of nostalgia. He could feel it welcoming him, the son of the high priestess who was, for all he knew, the last practitioner that followed the Old Religion.

'It's beautiful,' Hermione whispered enchanted by the castle that seemed to be glowing in the night.

'We're going to be spending the next seven years of our life here,' Neville's words were light with awe as he leaned forwards to get a better look. For some reason he had a good feeling about what was to come.


	6. Chapter 6

Harry stepped in line with Draco as they approached the steps of Hogwarts. Hermione and Neville followed behind him, whispering to themselves about the courses available. Well, Harry didn't have to look behind him to know that Hermione was the one talking and Neville was simply listening. 'Harry,' Draco nodded his head in greeting feeling contempt as Goyle and Crabbe looked at each other in surprise that the legendary Harry Potter was seeking Draco Malfoy's presence.

'Draco, you didn't return to the compartment after changing.' Before Draco could respond to Harry's comment a strict looking woman clapped her hands together gaining the attention of the students gathered. Harry could feel his scalp aching as he stared at her bun that was pulled as tight as it could go.

'The first years, Professor McGonagall,' Hagrid gained the attention of the woman.

'Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here,' McGonagall's prim words were a huge contrast to Hagrid's heavily accented speech. Looking away from the large man she pulled open the doors in front of them and led the hoard of students into the school. Harry scoffed lightly as he took in the decor his mother had described to him. Nothing had changed, there were still flaming torches to light the halls. The torches were hung upon cold looking walls that reassured him in his decision to learn warming spells from Morgana.

'It's so, medieval,' Hermione whispered as her eyes travelled up to the ceiling they couldn't see, the castle was far too big to even see the top.

'It hasn't changed at all,' Harry ran his hands through his hair already imagining how he was going to write to his mother about Hogwarts. He followed after Professor McGonagall like the rest of the students, stopping outside of a large set of wooden doors. They could hear the loud drone of students talking on the other side, awaiting the first years arrivals.

'Welcome to Hogwarts. The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seat in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your Houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your House will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your House, sleep in your House dormitory, and spend free time in your House common room. The four Houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn you house points.'

Harry drifted off as her lecture started to bore him, Draco stood beside him like a constant reminder of his dilemmas. Draco was the epitome of the backwards wizards his mother was teaching him to keep away from. Morgana stood for the survival of magic kind, she stood for the growth of what could be, and that involved muggleborns, purebloods, half bloods, goblins, centaurs, mermaids, that involved every creature that had magical heritage. It was also inclusive of inbreeding between muggles and magic folk, because his mother believed that everyone could become magical through the old religion. There were muggles that could gain magic, though usually through excessively dark rites, rites that his mother could never do. However, whatever Merlin had done to her had completely stipped her of all possibility of magic so those rites meant nothing to her anyway.

'I shall return when we are ready for you,' Harry blinked himself out of his thoughts, watching as McGonagall left them alone in their turmoil.

'How do they sort us into houses?' Neville questioned meekly as he grasped his cloak fastener and fixed it so it was stationed under his chin rather than under his ear, in his hurry he had put his cloak on completely lopsidedly.

'Some sort of test, I think.' Ron walked up to the group of people, conspicuously glaring at Draco as he did. 'Fred said it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking.'

'My mother said that they used to have students go through a memory and their actions were examined to see what houses they showed aptitude for,' Harry mused as he looked at the door to the entry hall.

'That hasn't happened for centuries,' Hermione stated matter of factly, 'Hogwarts a History alluded to tests being used and being evaluated by the founders but after they died that was rendered impossible.'

'Rendered impossible,' Ron mocked, 'did you swallow a dictionary?' The students around him snickered as Hermione flushed red.

'At least she has one Weasley, can your family even afford a dictionary or is illiteracy encouraged?' Draco shot back smirking as Ron's ears burned red with embarrassment.

'Shut up Malfoy! Or is it impossible for death eaters to be good,' the students around them went silent. There were many reasons why, not only had Ron mentioned the war that was still scarring the hearts of the families in the wizarding world but Ron's insult didn't make sense, it was clearly only meant to emphasize Draco's heritage.

Before Draco or anybody could come up with a retort of any type a crowd of ghosts had approached them, their translucent bodies making clear their death status. 'Forgive and forget, I say, we ought to give him a second chance-' the short ungainly monk looking ghost stated before being cut off.

'My dear Friar, haven't we given Peeves all the chances he deserves? He gives us all a bad name and you know, he's not really even a ghost.' The medieval looking ghost whose outfit was decked out with tights and a ruff looked shocked to see the students standing there. 'Say, what are you all doing here?'

Harry frowned, his eyebrows furrowing together in the process, 'I hardly think you have precedence over Peeves.' He spoke up gaining the attention of all the students watching, especially the shocked ghosts.

'And why's that?' The Fat Friar questioned as he floated closer to Harry, ignoring the appalled look on the Ghost that was speaking previously.

'Peeves has been in the school since approximately the year it was created, how long have you been in the school?'

'Now hold on-'

'Move along now,' McGonagall interrupted the second ghost before he could finish speaking. 'The Sorting Ceremony's about to start,' grumbling amongst themselves the ghosts floated through the wall.

'Hope to see you in Hufflepuff!' The Fat Friar exclaimed happily to everyone, 'my old house you know,' with his last jolly smile he followed the rest of the ghosts through the wall.

'Now form a line,' Professor McGonagall demanded, 'and follow me.'

'How did you know that? Hogwarts a History doesn't say when Peeves was first at the school,' Hermione followed close to Harry, determined to find out where exactly he got his information from. He couldn't exactly say that his mother was in Hogwarts in the years of the founders and Peeves without gaining unwanted attention, so he remained silent to her constant prodding. The only moment she went quiet was when they entered the great hall.

The hall itself wasn't that extraordinary, it had five long tables overall and the candles were floating in mid air (as one would expect of a magical hall) and the older students were watching the first years with expected contempt, remembering when they were as small and scared. What made the room so excitable started with the old wizards hat that was laying on the top of a wobbly wooden stool directly in front of the teachers tables. He hadn't been expecting a pensive like in the old times, but a hat certainly wasn't on his repertoire of expected charmed items. The other thing that directed the attention of the first years, and caused the largest amount of talk, was the ceiling that instead of showing rafters and wood showed a black night sky that was splayed with shining stars.

'It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History,' Hermione stated with great pride to whoever was close enough to hear. Within moments of Hermione's random fact of the day the hat that few students had noticed opened two flaps that seemed to resemble a mouth and started singing, at the top of it's non-existent lungs.

'Oh you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folks use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!'

As soon as the strange hat finished its song the hall burst into applause, most of it was from relieved first years that realized there were no trolls to wrestle or memories to fight through. 'When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted,' McGonagall stated as she unrolled a long roll of parchment. 'Abbot, Hannah,' a girl he hadn't noticed before stumbled forward and sat down. Within moments of the hat being on her head it opened it's odd cloth lips and shouted her future for all the hall to hear.

'Hufflepuff!' Harry stiffened as a table started cheering and clapping for the young first year that was joining their house. What if he was put in Hufflepuff? What could he ever change if he got submitted to the lies of meekness and fear that was apparently the main characteristic of every Hufflepuff? He watched as another girl walked to the stool, what if his bias influenced the hat? He could say he wanted any house the hat put him in, but that didn't mean that it couldn't see his desire for Ravenclaw. He barely noticed a boy walk past him as his name was called

As if on cue he heard Terry Boot's new house being called, 'Ravenclaw,' he liked the way they shook hands with their new comrade. Harry especially liked the possibility of being closer to his mother. Morgana may have raised him but sometimes he felt a disconnect. She was from decades in the past, he was in his proper era, she had never had children before, he couldn't remember his parents, she no longer had magic, he was just learning how to use his. It could be his chance to be that much closer to his mother.

The only thing that shook him out of his musing was hearing Hermione's name being called, impulsively Harry grabbed her hand. She paused in shock and stared at Harry who ran his hand through his hair, 'let the hat choose, please.' Nodding slowly to him she walked to the stool and grasped the hat eagerly before jamming it on her head.

There were a few moments of silence, Harry was nervous to see her lips purse and her eyebrows furrow as if debating before the hat called out her house. 'Ravenclaw!'

'Thank goodness, I don't know what I'd do if she was in my house,' Ron scoffed and crossed his arms being just the bigot Harry had started to expect him to be.

'Longbottom, Neville,' Harry smiled encouragingly to the nervous boy he had met on the train, not lecturing him like he had Hermione. He had a feeling that the boy could go anywhere and turn out okay, and that he would let the hat stomp all over him and force him to go to the house he's meant to be in. But apparently he was wrong, he could see Neville complexion pale as the hat's lip like cloth pulled together, both apparently in a strong debate.

After waiting longer than any other sorting so far the hat drew in a deep breath and exclaimed it's choice with a tone of relief and pride, 'Gryffindor!' Neville got up and started to walking to his table, his black tie already the Gryffindor colours. As soon as laughter ricocheted throughout the hall Neville realized he was still wearing the hat and meekly returned it before running to the welcoming table.

'Malfoy, Draco,' Harry watched Draco saunter up to the hat, not even bothering to sit down, instead just placing the hat upon his head.

'Slytherin!' Draco smirked and walked to his table looking far more pleased than most other students. Harry could feel his stomach churn as his turn came closer, he had introduced himself as Harry Potter on the train, what if he got called as Harry Pendragon and everyone accused him of being a liar? Or worse, what if he was just called Harry Potter, with absolutely no indication of acknowledgment for his Pendragon heritage? Breathing out deeply he closed his eyes and started concentrating on calming himself, he only opened his eyes when he heard his name 'Potter-,' was he doomed to forget every part of himself? 'Pendragon, Harry,' his lips forced themselves into a smile as he confidently walked towards the stool ignoring the whispers of the students that were questioning if he truly was Harry Potter, and why the heck he had a hyphenated name. Sitting down on the stool he placed the hat on his head, tilting his head as the familiar warmth of old magic warmed his head.

'Well would you look here,' the hat spoke into his head with glee, 'I never had the joy to sort Morgana.' Harry was immediately filled with an odd sense of discomfort, the Hat wanted to sort his mother which everyone thought, but him, that she was evil. What did it say about a hat that wanted to sort an assumed evil person? 'I never saw her as the evil women they knew her to be, she always had potential for good. She has acted upon it with you, tell me Harry where do you think you belong?'

'Ravenclaw,' despite wanting to open his mouth he found his words floating in his head, heard by the hat atop it.

'Morgana taught you to honour books, I see you doing quite well there, but, you have quite a bit of talent outside of your wit.'

'My mother said that she wanted to make sure your biases for my house weren't clouded by the horcrux in my head,' Harry stated bluntly in his head, getting quite used to the telepathic communication. He didn't mention that he had no idea what a horcrux was, he never asked, he knew she would tell him if it was important.

'Or course she did,' the hats laughter echoed in Harry's mind, 'no Harry, you show great promise in Slytherin. It will certainly help you on the way to greatness.'

'She also said to trust you, so I won't ask for Ravenclaw, put me where you wish,' Harry could feel a release of tension in his body as he gave up his wishes. If his mother wanted his sorting pure and by the wishes of the hat, he would give her that.

'Perhaps, you should ask her why she wants you to trust my opinions young Pendragon,' the hats words whispered in his mind, setting alight a curiosity that he knew wouldn't be answered through a letter, 'I suppose it better be, Slytherin!' Harry took the hat off, his confusion clouding his spatial awareness. He was unaware of the shocked silence that descended upon the room, the great Harry Potter was not only in Slytherin, but he had another name docked onto his original one?

Harry walked to the Slytherin table, the sound of fast claps erupted there. After all having Harry Potter was bound to be good for any house, especially when there were whispers among the pure-blooded death eaters families that he might be their rallying force, the new Dark Lord. The one that could reignite their plans to rid the world of all the unworthy.

Not bothering to be aware of the thoughts of the Slytherins he smirked in greeting and nodded back to the Slytherins who nodded in affirmation to his joining their house before he sat down beside Draco, calmly ignoring the Bloody Baron who was seated on Draco's other side, only noticing the flabbergasted look that was plastered on his Headmaster Dumbledore's face. His lips curled into a smile as he stared at Dumbledore before he looked at Draco, 'I guess we'll be stuck together for the next seven years.'

'Y-yeah,' Draco nodded looking shocked, 'I guess so.' Within moments he gained his confidence as he smirked at the current Slythern occupants, eager to stamp down his foot and become the leader by showing off his best connection so far, 'this is Harry Potter-Pendragon we met on the train. Harry, this is Pansy Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle, Millicent Bulstrode,' he pointed out the students around them, feeling his excitement grow as he imagined his letter to his father. Perhaps Harry Potter-Pendragon was going to be the next dark lord, and if that was what was going to happen, he needed to get on his good side.

The very last Slytherin to be sorted to their table was Blaise Zabini who sat down opposite Harry. 'So, we got Potter,' the new occupant spoke with the same certainty that the rest of Harry's house had around their sorting, all of them had known before hand they were going to be Slytherin, only Harry hadn't.

'No,' Harry shook his head, his low hanging bangs falling into his bright green eyes that flashed with confidence as he smirked, 'you got Pendragon.'

'You deny your heritage?' Pansy questioned, her high raised squashed nose seemed to lift up in arrogance, Harry Potter leaving behind his wizarding heritage, that wasn't going to go over well in the pureblood community.

'No, however I was adopted by a woman whose name I would be a fool to deny.' Harry responded, his eyes focusing on the headmaster who stood up with a beaming smile and outstretched arms. Harry caught the disappointed look that was pointed in his direction and so wisely avoided the wizards eyes just to be safe, he didn't want his amusement to show.

'Welcome!' Dumbledore's presence got the Slytherins looking at each other in dissatisfaction.

'What's that idiot going to say this year?' One of the older students hissed resulting in the table erupting in quiet snickers.

'Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you,' the hall erupted into clapping and cheering, though Harry was fully aware of Slytherins jeers and patronising claps.

'Is he mad? My father always said he was a barmy in his days at school, but that's nonsense,' Tracey Davis scowled in his direction, distaste evident on her face.

'I heard his minds as fragile as a golden snidget,' Daphne piped up adding in her view, 'it'll only take a light prod until it completely falls apart.'

'Has your mother said anything about Dumbledore?' Theodore Nott questioned, blatantly questioning Harry on his mothers blood origins.

'In my interpretation,' Harry started speaking slowly as he debated his words. Could he be careful enough? Would he truly be able to survive the social etiquette of Slytherin? 'She said to cause him havoc because he seems odd to her.'

'He seems odd so she wants you to cause trouble with him?' Draco repeated in disbelief.

'No, she just thinks he's odd, but if she doesn't like him then there's something wrong with him.' Harry stated, 'if there is one person whose views can be trusted it's my mothers.'

'I once knew a Pendragon in my years of schooling,' the Bloody Baron spoke up surprising the group, especially because it meant that the Pendragon lineage had to have some kind of pure blood backing if there was one at Hogwarts in the late 10th century and one was still living to adopt Harry. Of course they never suspected that the great Merlin had sent the first Pendragon into the future.

'Perhaps she's like my mother, Morgana Pendragon,' Harry mused, smiling at the look of shock that flashed across the Baron's face. Perhaps it wasn't wise to overtly say who his adopted mother was, though the truth was often so unbelievable that the ghost may not have been able to pinpoint his mother as the Priestess of the Old Religion that attempted to take over the world, and kill a whole half of her family.

'You're that boy who supported Peeves, of course it would be a Pendragon who would say such a thing!' The Bloody Baron floated up from his place at the table. 'Bloody Pendragons,' he snapped as he started floating away, gaining attention of the surrounding tables. 'Of course we have your sort here again, always messing with the Old Religion. Either banning it or killing for it, hah!' His hoarse voice made his words seem darker to the listeners.

'I guess the last Pendragon at Hogwarts didn't make a good impression on him,' Harry mused as he loaded some roast beef, potatoes, peas, and gravy on his plate.

'I've never heard of a Pendragon at Hogwarts,' Pansy spoke up as the rest of the table digested hearing the Bloody Baron's conflicting views on the Pendragon agenda, as to whether they hated magic, or killed anyone without it. Harry shrugged not saying what he wanted to because he knew that it would make it easy for the Slytherin's to find out that the last (and first) Pendragon to attend Hogwarts was Morgana, and that was his mothers name. It would only take a little more investigation to discover that Morgan Le Faye's real name was Morgana Pendragon, then he would really be in trouble.

* * *

><p>Harry woke up the next morning to the loud snores emitting from Crabbe, unfortunately all of the first year boys shared one room so there really was to be no privacy. Sighing to himself he got ready for his day, musing on how he was going to talk to his mother. He never had a chance to buy himself an owl and he knew his mother would prefer to send a raven, but that would be only another glaring piece of evidence as to who his mother was.<p>

Putting on his bag Harry absently grabbed his tie and left the common room, walking towards the great hall. The Slytherin boys were really not the worst, Theodore Nott was interesting to say the least, always ready to explain anything Harry didn't get and Blaise had the sort of absent mindedness that came from a wise and clever mind. Overall he knew they would suit him well, but he didn't think they were the inner circle type.

His mouth curled in distaste at the words he used, inner circle, his mother wasn't breeding him to be a dark lord, but some of the jargon she taught him sounded suspicious to those unaware of her ancestry. Of course a king would use those words, but he wasn't a king, though she had been a queen. Sighing heavily he made sure his tie had a slim knot and was straight before he let go of it. But who would be the inner circle type? Harry stuffed his hands in his pockets as he entered the great hall, he scanned the room grinning as he saw Neville.

'Neville,' he walked towards the pudgy faced boy with a raised hand before dropping down across from him at the Gryffindor table. He watched in confusion as Neville ignored him and stared down at the wooden table in front of him. 'Don't tell me you believe that every Slytherin is bad, I'm not about to bully you.'

'I know,' Neville's words were quiet. 'Harry, the sorting hat made a mistake, I'm not meant for Gryffindor.'

'You're meant to be where you are, if the hat put you in Gryffindor, you belong in Gryffindor. My mother always used to tell me abyssus abyssum invocat.' Neville looked up from the table, his watery eyes focused on Harry. 'It's a latin phrase and means deep calls to deep, it means that the more you know of a situation the deeper your understanding will be. The hat saw something you don't see yet, but the more you get to know yourself, the more you'll see the hat was right.'

'But, I have no courage,' Neville looked around the table, his words hushed as if he had spoken some kind of taboo phrase that would see him stoned.

'You have no courage, or you just have to look deeper? How can you know what you have or do not if you're spending all your time convincing yourself that you're not worth anything?' Harry ran his hand through his hair as he spoke the words he had heard so often from his mother. Because of her power and ability he used to see himself as deficient compared to her but the motto deep calls to deep made him work harder. Because the harder he worked the more he understood, and the more he understood the more power he had, and eventually he could be like his mother, though without the stint where she tried to take over the world, that just wasn't his thing.

'I guess,' Neville muttered as he twirled his pudgy fingers together.

'Think that over, Neville,' Harry smiled at him as he stood up grabbing his bag. 'I have to go and eat breakfast, but I'll see you whenever I can.'

'Okay, bye Harry,' Neville nodded to him and Harry grinned at him before walking to the Slytherin table. He sat down ignoring the narrowed looks of the few Slytherins that were at the table. He knew that the Gryffindors were their enemies but he also understood something about Slytherin that non-Slytherins failed to understand, the house was all about the house. They will never leave their own to be the best, and they will never disown their house members; a Slytherin was a Slytherin.

After hearing his prefect talk about the houses Harry felt a little guilty that Hermione was in Ravenclaw, unlike in Slytherin where honour was everything; she was in Ravenclaw where it really was to each their own, they didn't mind betraying their housemates to be the best. Though he wouldn't lie that it was obvious that Slytherins would easily betray anyone who was not in their house, but that was rather minor compared to what he was coming to understand about Ravenclaw, because Slytherins believed in family.

'Talking to a Gryffindor?' Pansy questioned, she, Theodore, and Blaise were the only ones that were at the table at the moment. It was still early morning and the others seemed to all be late risers.

'Only one worth talking to,' Harry retorted before putting some eggs, bacon, peas, and toast on his plate. 'What is our first class today?'

'I heard it's potions with Gryffindor,' Blaise fixed his tie as he spoke. 'If you want to become friends with Neville I would suggest not being his partner in potions. Professor Snape will be targeting the Gryffindors and they might blame you for him losing points.'

'If you even want to be friends with a Gryffindor that is,' Theodore added as he cut his eggs with his knife. 'I would be cautious with becoming acquainted with them, they are probably the most closed minded to inter-house relationships even a Ravenclaw would be better.' The three shared glances that clearly said that Ravenclaws were pushing it with their devious personalities.

'Even a Hufflepuff would be better,' Pansy added, Blaise was quickly nodding along to his house mates comments.

'I'll keep that in mind, but Neville is the one I care to talk to.' Harry shrugged as he put some eggs on his fork, 'the others give me no interest.'

'You think he's an asset?' Pansy questioned in disbelief, quickly catching on to what Harry meant by interest. At once the four Slytherins looked at Neville who was sitting alone at the table, fumbling with a piece of toast as he buttered it.

'Yes,' Harry nodded and turned around again to face his food, 'he just hasn't found himself yet, so it's hard to see. Abyssus abyssum invocat,' Harry stated again watching as Blaise smirked in agreement, finding truth in the statement. After all Harry wasn't the only one who grew up with latin proverbs being thrown in every other sentence.

'Alright,' Theodore sighed heavily as he stared at Neville, since he was facing that way it wasn't as obvious when he did it. 'I'll tell the others,' Harry understood immediately what that meant. Like the musketeers it was all for one and one for all in the Slytherin house so if one person thought something all the others had to know so they could weigh it for themselves. It didn't mean Neville would be accepted by the Slytherins (that would never happen) but it meant that they would watch them and if they saw any signs of him being an asset they would treat him better. Though the same could not be said for Professor Snape.


	7. Chapter 7

Harry trailed along with the rest of the Slytherins, a thoughtful look clouding his usually lipid green eyes. What was he going to do in Potions? He was well aware that Professor Snape was his head of house, as well as the Potions teacher. Despite being the head of house the only kind of communication Harry had with him had been accompanied with glares that was caused by the random catching of gazes. It didn't bode well with Harry that his teacher showed dislike for him immediately, there was so little known about his previous life.

'Are you ready for potions?' Pansy stuck to Harry's side as they traversed to the classroom that was in the dungeons, not that far from their common room.

'As ready as I will be, do you know why Professor Snape wouldn't like me?' Harry tilted his head so he met the eyes of the all of the Slytherins he was walking with. He didn't like drawing attention to his problems but if anybody had any insight he thought he was privy to it.

'No,' the group agreed with each other unanimously, not seeing any reason for him to dislike Harry.

'If I were you I would hope I read the textbooks,' Blaise's voice was a soft murmur from behind Harry. 'Don't give him any reason to like you less.'

'Good advice,' Theodore nodded his head as he tapped his thigh, something that was quickly becoming a noticeable habit for the young pureblooded pre-teen. 'It would be dishonorable for a Slytherin to put Professor Snape in a position where he has to deduct points from his house member.'

'Neville?' Harry frowned as he tried to remember all of the new rules he had to memorize for interacting with his house. He remembered them telling him during breakfast to leave Neville alone, and questioned whether Theodore was alluding to that comment.

'Let him flounder during the first class,' Pansy dipped her head to the side, her bobbed hair swayed with the movement, covering one of her rounded hazel eyes. 'If you join him immediately you'll look like a traitor to the rest of the house, if you help him next class after your views of him being an asset would have spread, it'll look like a strategic move.'

'Everything's a strategy with you,' Blaise scoffed as he brushed one of his dark brown bangs out of his face.

'Everything's a strategy with Slytherins,' she shot back as she lifted her nose in the air.

'Only way to survive,' Theodore put in as the four walked into the room with five minutes to spare before class. 'Harry, be my partner?' Harry nodded and followed him to a set of seats in the middle of the room

Blaise opened his mouth to say something when Pansy grabbed his bicep and dragged him to the seat right beside Harry, 'you're with me Zabini.'

'Fine,' Blaise rolled his eyes, not looking surprised that she had been so forthcoming with him.

'So, Harry,' she smiled at him as she swiveled in her seat to face him, her knees skimming his thigh. 'Who is this mysterious mother of yours? Does she know magic?' He didn't miss the way Blaise rolled his eyes while muttering something in Italian under his breath, apparently it was normal for Pansy to be so physical, and the Italian obviously didn't like it.

Harry overtly moved a little closer to Theodore before answering the question he knew Pansy really wanted to know, 'she has practiced magic. She's more into the older stuff though,' Harry shrugged watching confused as a look of surprise crossed Pansy's face.

'Really?' Her naturally round eyes widened as she leaned closer to Harry, her tie dangling over her dark grey skirt. 'Where does she get access to her books?'

'Family,' Harry frowned as he realized that Pansy wasn't the only one that looked surprised. Blaise's eyebrows had raised approvingly and Theodore had started frowning and looked like he was trying to analyze Harry. 'What? Is it that strange?'

'There is barely anything on the old magic, what little stuff there is, is either cursed or in code.' Theodore spoke slowly as if he was remembering a long past lecture, 'it's not easy to find good information, and even harder to practice it.' Harry bit his tongue, stopping himself from mentioning that he thought that it was rather easy.

'I suppose it just takes a certain type of person,' Blaise smiled and leaned back in his seat as a steady flood of students started walking into the classroom. 'I'm sure your mother is as formidable as you say.'

'I never said she was-' Harry went silent as soon as Professor Snape swept into the room, refusing to tarnish his already bad image further. He winced in empathy as he watched Neville stumble into the room, the last student to make it in.

'Well, it appears some students have not learned how to read their schedules,' Professor Snape picked up his attendance book to the chorus of snickers from the Slytherin side of the room. 'Ten points from Gryffindor.' Without pausing his dark eyes, that were bordering on pitch black, scanned the room as he called out attendance. Harry noted how Snape seemed to stop and glare at him when he called out his name, moving on quickly.

'You are here to learn the subtle science and the exact art of potion-making,' Snape put down his attendance list and walked around the room as he spoke in a low hush, his very countenance capable of capturing everyone's attention. 'As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of a softly simmering cauldron with it's shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses...' Harry leaned forwards as Snape talked, his eyes widening as he focused completely on his professor. 'I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death - if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach.'

'He's amazing,' Harry whispered to Theodore, his voice showing his amazement. Theodore just smirked and nodded, equally pleased with their head of house.

'Longbottom, since you were late for class I guess you think you're more prepared than the rest,' Snape's eyes narrowed, a predatory glint bringing life to them as he stared at the nervous boy. 'What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?'

'I-I don't know, sir,' Neville stuttered out as a blush coated his face.

'Clearly your arrogance was unfounded,' Snape hissed as his thin lips curled into a sneer. 'Let's try again. Longbottom, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?'

Neville gulped, his adams apple faintly visible through his plump neck before he licked his chapped lips, 'I don't know, sir.' He stared down at his desk, shaking as he tried to drown out the quiet chuckles that flowed naturally from the Slytherin side. Harry sighed and looked around at them, if this was what every class was going to be like with Gryffindors then he didn't know what he was going to do. He had been taught that such conspicuous bullying was both bad and stupid, and it seemed his whole house was keen on doing it.

'Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Longbottom?' Snape tsked, the sound of his tongue hitting his teeth sounded almost foreboding before he opened his mouth again, 'and what, Longbottom, is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?'

'The-they-' Neville stopped and took a deep breath, squeezing his eyes shut.

'We don't have all day Longbottom, either you know the answer or you don't,' Snape drawled.

'They are the same plant, sir. It's also called aconite,' Neville opened his eyes slowly, cowering into himself as he looked up at Snape, dreading his response.

'Well, I suppose you know _something_ useful, however, not enough to save your life if it's on the line.' Snape clasped his hands behind his back, reminding Harry of his mother. 'Asphodel and wormwood makes a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the draught of living death.' Harry immediately started scribbling down what Professor Snape was saying, although he already had it almost memorized. 'A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. And yes, as Longbottom said, monkshood and wolfsbane are indeed the same plant, and also go by the name aconite.' He paused scanning the classroom before sniffing indignantly, 'well? Why aren't you all copying that down?'

Within seconds the sound of rustling and scraping filled the room as the students grasped for their writing utensils. Harry smirked when his gaze met Blaise's who's lip curled into a small smile before his quill filled the cacophony of noises coming from the agitated students.

It seemed to Harry like the more time went on the worse the Gryffindors had it, Snape had placed the students into pairs, Harry found himself paired with Goyle which he didn't mind because the bigger student let him tell him what to do. Neville was set together with a nice looking Gryffindor named Seamus, who, Harry was pleased to see, welcomed the nervous boy. It became apparent how biased Snape was as he continually criticized most of the students, mostly the Gryffindors, as they started creating a simple potion to cure boils. Unfortunately for Neville he had managed to dissolve Seamus' cauldron, filling the room with a disturbing smell, hissing, and oddly green gas.

'You idiot,' Snape hissed, closing his eyes as he attempted to contain his anger. 'Take him to the hospital wing,' he growled out, cleaning the mess up with a wave of his wand. Neville would most certainly need his help in the rest of their potions classes together Harry mused as he watched his injured friend get dragged out of the room.

* * *

><p>Harry was more than relieved when potions ended, despite not being the one Snape had all his anger targeted at. He suspected that was just because he was a Slytherin, he got enough glares for people to think he wasn't a Slytherin. 'Do you think Neville's okay?' Harry questioned as they walked to their next class, Herbology with the Ravenclaws.<p>

'Of course, Madame Pomfrey would have given him a potion, you'll probably see him at lunch,' Theodore was, once again, tapping his thigh as he spoke.

'He had it coming to him,' Draco scoffed as he looked away from Harry to avoid the annoyed look he knew he was going to get, 'the guy is a clutz.'

Blaise sucked in a quiet breath, attracting the attention of the others, 'I still don't get.' Blaise went silent as he stared ahead of them, 'how Neville is an asset.' His statement was met with hums of agreement from the herd of Slytherins.

'You'll see,' Harry stared at the greenhouses they were walking towards, smiling when he saw a familiar bushy head of hair. He would have said Hermione was an asset as well, but he had a feeling that wouldn't go as well as saying a pureblood was a good asset.

'Everyone line up at the tables,' Professor Sprout, a squat woman with frazzled grey hair, clapped her dirty hands together as she watched the students meander around the greenhouse aimlessly.

'You may be a Slytherin, but that doesn't mean you have the skills to survive as one,' Daphne Greengrass hissed in his ear as they made their ways to the long tables set up in the greenhouse. Harry shrugged in acknowledgment before standing at the end of the line of Slytherins, Hermione immediately stepped in beside him, being the start of the Ravenclaw line.

'How's your house?' Harry questioned as he tuned out his professors introduction.

'Good, we all get along well,' Hermione smiled as she looked at Harry. 'They all leave me alone to read.'

Harry snorted in amusement before shaking his head, 'that may be getting along for you, but I call that anti-social. You should get your head out of the books from time to time.'

'Why?' Her head snapped back involuntarily, a physical sign of her surprise. 'You have something against reading?'

'Not at all,' Harry shook his head, calming himself so he wouldn't get offended by her snappy tone. 'I just think we would all benefit from your presence,' he smiled at her, fully aware that he was laying his charm on thick.

'Oh,' Hermione ducked her head embarrassed at how rude she had been.

'I would suggest reading _How to Win Friends and Influence People_,' his lips curled into a lopsided grin as he looked at Hermione. She scoffed and pushed him before pausing.

'I think I saw that on my parents bookshelf, maybe I should ask them to owl it to me,' she mused ignoring the triumphant glint that was lighting up Harry's eyes.

'Maybe you should,' he went silent as Professor Sprout narrowed her eyes at them suspiciously, suspecting them of not paying attention to her lesson. By the end of the lesson Harry found a simple piece of paper within his pocket, he pulled it out and smiled when he saw a neat scrawl telling him to go to the library after supper, apparently Hermione was a sneak.

'What's that?' Harry folded the paper up again, as he met Blaises gaze.

'What are you doing after supper?' Harry asked, answering Blaise's question with one of his own.

* * *

><p>The rest of the lessons passed by rather fast, he had enjoyed charms with Professor Flitwick, who he was confident had some goblin blood in him, the man had been very interesting and wasn't boring at all in his delivery. Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall was as he expected, she was strict and dedicated to her work, and he also noticed, was bias towards her own house. The only thing he was dreading was Defense against the Dark Arts.<p>

'I'm telling you! That man knows nothing!' Hermione's shrill voice was lowered to a hiss as she clenched her fists a top her book.

'Hermione,' Neville scratched the back of his head bashfully as Hermione stared at him awaiting what he was going to say, 'he's got to have something to him. Dumbledore did hire him.'

'Dumbledore also hired Trelawney,' Hermione rolled her eyes before leaning in closer to them to whisper, 'divinations is a bunch of garbage, honestly.'

'It's not garbage,' Blaise spoke up, pausing from twirling the quill that Harry was positive wasn't his. He grinned and straightened as soon as Hermione stared at him, Harry was quickly catching on that the Italian loved his theories. 'Divination is just something that cannot be taught,' he paused before frowning, 'we won't even be learning it till third year, why are you talking about it?'

'I was talking to some of the fourth year students at supper time today about the electives that would be available,' Hermione's voice was clear between the four of them, ringing with her prim tone. 'They told me that it's a bunch of rubbish.'

'My mother said to never discount prophecies,' Harry flipped the page of the book he had stopped reading ages ago. 'She never said anything about fortune telling,' he shrugged, ignoring the way that Hermione's glare focused on him as she tried to figure out exactly what he was saying.

'That's going to be your catchphrase by the end of the year,' Blaise said with a snicker before raising his hands in the air like he was drawing attention to a large banner, 'my mother said.'

'Well, if I were to have any catchphrase I suppose I would prefer that over something odd like, yehet,' Harry frowned as he repeated a strange saying he heard a teenage boy on the street say once. He shook the memory from his head before remembering potions class. 'Neville, do you want to be my partner in potions?'

Neville looked up from his own book, that he hadn't been reading either, with a grimace, 'are you sure Harry?'

'Of course, I was going to ask you today but Theodore wanted to be my partner,' Harry smiled at his friend reassuringly before looking down at his book and scowling as he read it for the first time, despite flipping the pages to the second chapter. 'What kind of book is this?'

'You're the one that chose it,' Hermione retorted, not bothering to check. Neville only needed to glance at the page before he started laughing.

'It's a Witch romance novel,' Neville laughed harder as Harry shoved it away from himself with a grimace. 'I never knew you liked that sort of thing, Harry.'

'I don't, I wasn't reading it,' he protested as he waved his hands in front of himself in denial. He truly wasn't, he was thinking about other stuff the whole time he was reading it, it was a habit of his. Whenever he wanted to think in silence he pretended to read, people tended to leave him alone more often when he was with a book then when he was staring into space.

'Sure, that's what they all say,' Blaise scoffed as he closed the book and made sure it was plenty far from himself. Harry rolled his eyes and pulled out some parchment and a self-inking quill. If he wasn't going to be productive he may as well do something enjoyable.

'What are you doing?' Neville questioned.

'Writing a letter,' Harry scrawled his greeting into the top of the letter, though what he saw as scrawl was immaculate cursive writing. 'My mother will want to know what house I am in.'

'What house did she want you to be in?' Blaise's tone was heavy with sympathy, he thought he knew what Harry was hesitant about. But unlike his thoughts, Morgana really did not have a predisposed opinion of where Harry should go, however, that didn't make Harry feel any less like he failed her.

'Any one I got in,' Harry muttered, as if it were a burden to have such freedom. His quill scratched against the parchment as he wrote a small summary of his day, making sure to mention that he had pursued a meeting with Hermione like she had wanted. 'Is there anyway to send this?'

'There are school owls,' Hermione's voice emitted from behind her book, her face not visible behind it's cover. 'What do you think is on the third floor?' She questioned as she finally lowered the book.

'There's something on the third floor,' Harry repeated contemplatively as if it was the first time he had heard that, which it was, before scratching more onto his letter. 'Is it dangerous?' He was unaware of the shocked looks his acquaintances sent him.

'The Headmaster told us to not to go near the third floor, I'm wondering what could be there.' Hermione spoke matter of factly, 'some of the older Ravenclaws were saying that they thought the Headmaster was trying his hand at creating spells so he closed the floor off.'

'Does it really matter?' Blaise questioned as he looked over Harry's shoulder to the letter. 'Unless you're going to check.'

'I wasn't planning on actually checking,' She snapped, as if horrified that he would suggest she would break the rules. 'I was seeing if anyone else had any theories,' she rolled her shoulders as if self-assured in her intelligence and positive that no others would have wondered about it.

'Harry thinks it's something stupid and dangerous,' Blaise said as he looked at how Harry was describing the whole situation in his letter.

'The headmaster couldn't bring something dangerous into the school,' Neville spoke up against them.

'I wouldn't doubt he would,' Blaise disagreed immediately. 'My mother was saying the same as Harry's, he's not to be trusted.'

'He's the _Headmaster_,' Hermione scowled and dropped her book on the table.

'You can't just trust authority figures like that,' Blaise scolded her.

'He's not just an authority figure, he's a hero,' Neville disagreed instantly.

'He's a glorified hypocrite.'

'Blaise!' Hermione gasped, looking as if Blaise had offended her personally. 'Harry! Tell him he's wrong!'

Harry looked up from his paper, 'I don't involve myself in things without hearing everything.' He frowned when he realized they were staring at him with varying looks of confusion. 'What?'

'What,' Hermione paused between words, 'language are you speaking?'

'Oh,' Harry smiled sheepishly, 'sorry.' He responded in English, 'my mother taught me Gaelic.'

'Ah,' Blaise made a small grunt of acknowledgment for what Harry was saying, already connecting the language to his mother's interest in the old magic.

'Ah, what?' Hermione crossed her arms, looking upset that she didn't get what the hidden message was.

'The druids focused on Gaelic rather than Latin for their magic,' Blaise rubbed the top of his head as he spoke. 'It's old magic stuff.'

'Now it's ancient magic,' Harry mused.

'You know ancient magic!' Neville gaped as he stared at Harry, his eyes sparkling almost adoringly.

'No,' Harry scoffed and shook his head, 'I would get in trouble if I even touched any books of the Old Religion.' He may know some interesting things but his mother really world have been upset if he had looked into it. She was always lecturing him about how volatile magic was and that he wasn't ready to master the Old Religion yet, and he wasn't about to disobey her, she hadn't been wrong with anything since he chad met her.

'Old Religion?' Blaise repeated sounded confused because of the unfamiliar term as Neville's eyes brightened even more. The wizarding world called the Old Religion old magic, or ancient magic. Both uses implied the Old Religion was weaker, outdated, or just not as good as current magic. But Harry was well aware that, that wasn't true.

'Your mother knows about the Old Religion?' Neville questioned. Harry opened and closed his mouth in shock before grimacing. He was going to let everything be known if things continued that way. He really had to learn how to hold his tongue.

'What do you know about the old magic?' Blaise's eyes lit up with interest, eager to continue on the topic.

'They were more involved with plants than any other magic I heard of.' Neville spoke up, his eyes bright with passion. 'I managed to find a book on it, they created most of the cultivating spells we know.'

'You found a book on the Old Religion?' Blaise repeated after him in shock, catching on that it was just another term for old magic. Which it wasn't, but, for the ignorant it may as well have been the same.

'The Old Religion is really a big deal for you guys,' Hermione had long since pushed her book away and was getting caught up in the excitement bubbling between the two boys. Harry was leaning back in his chair as removed possible. He didn't want to catch their attention again, he had only just gotten out of their attention.

'Big deal! Of course it is!' Neville exclaimed, temporarily breaking out of his shell as he started telling Hermione about the old magic, Blaise jumping in eagerly wherever he could. Harry smiled, listening to his fellow students talk as he finished his letter. He wondered if his mother was going to think he was doing well, he hoped he was making her proud.


	8. Chapter 8

Harry closed his eyes listening to the sound of rustling robes as his new teacher swept past the students, making his way to the front of the class. 'Welcome to defense against the dark arts, I am P-professor Quirrell.' Harry's eyes narrowed as he watched his teacher look at the staring students with a jittery paranoia. He wasn't slow to admit that he was coming into the clas skeptical after Neville and Hermione's adverse reactions to it.

'H-hello p-proffessor, I'm D-Draco M-Malfoy,' Draco mocked the teacher, grinning as his fellow Slytherins laughed.

'R-right, Mr. Malfoy, that is enough.' Quirrell's face reddened as his jaw clenched. Lying, Harry thought to himself, this man is lying. Of course the man had not yet opened his mouth about anything of importance so he hadn't really lied at all, but there was always a strange dissonance with liars. The same was true with the professor, there was an almost tangible feeling of _wrongness_ about him. So Harry made the purely emotional decision that the man was lying, he didn't know why, or what about, but he didn't doubt his ability to prove his feeling right.

'This class is to be taken seriously,' as he started to speak Harry could almost see a switch flicked in the man's countenance. 'The world is full of numerous dangerous, of which none of you are prepared for. It is my job to prepare you.' Quirrell waved his hands as he spoke, as if he was a great orator and the front of the class was rather the front of a group of followers. 'My time in Albania taught me a great many things, one of those is that one is never too prepared. Another was on the fickle characteristics of human beings.' His words were smooth and enticing, distracting the students from the fact that he had yet to stutter since he started his speech. 'Without proper _enlightening_ you will all die.' Quirrell's blunt words sent the students rigid, as if they were appalled that any teacher would be so straight with them.

Harry frowned as he watched his teacher walk to the front of his desk, he couldn't see a single reason as to why the man wasn't a good teacher. He didn't see anything appalling like what Hermione had said.

'It is likely you didn't know this, but I used to teach muggle studies. One thing muggles are good at is doing nothing, in the form of philosophy. Muggles love twisting everything that is known into an obscene reality, all so that they don't have to do work or that they can get out of trouble by calling it human nature. One of the most commonly used portions of philosophy lies within their moral questions. Such as this,' Quirrell waved his wand and the chalkboard flipped to reveal a question written out. 'Each of you will write down on the piece of paper in front of you a, or b. Then we will compare your answers, don't worry, this will remain anonymous.'

_Say you worked in the department of Mysteries, you were a very high ranking worker and you were scheduled to arrive in a room for an important meeting you were conducting. That meeting will take one week and while it is occurring you cannot leave. Also, the door will be unopenable after a certain time, if you miss this meeting you will lose your job. _

_You're just about to enter the room and you realise that you locked your house elf in a room as punishment, if you don't apparate back to your house and get it out then your house elf will __die__. However, there is no time to apparate back to your house and get to the room in time, you either save your house elf and lose your job, or let your house elf die and keep your high ranking job. Do you-_

_Let the house elf die and keep your job, or-_

_Apparate back to your house to save your elf and lose your job_

Harry stared at the question quickly recognising it, he had remembered hearing some bored university students at the train station talking about it and it's fallacies. He couldn't for the life of him remember what they were, or even what a fallacy was, he just knew that it was unfair of the teacher to impress such things upon kids their age. He warily picked up his quill and stared at the board. He wanted to write a, he always believed in not failing others, bbut. Gritting his teeth he scratched the letter b into his paper, his mother told him that their lives were for the interest of magical creatures, no matter their status. What was the use of honour if he would let innocent magical creatures die?

After a few minutes the teacher waved his wand and all of the papers flew to the board, out of the ten Slytherins, only three sheets were on b. Harry looked sick as a look of approval became clear on Professor Quirrell's face, 'it seems that this year, the Slytherins show the most promise. Now, I won't ask who those three people were, but they are wrong. There is nothing more important than keeping your job. The house elf is worthless, your job is important, a worker at the department of mysteries? You will do so much more if you give yourself the chance, that chance doesn't involve ruining your chances for prosperity. As the great Morgan le Faye once said, we are only as powerful as the face we show.'

It was as if those words summoned a demon, that was the only thing that could explain what happened next, Harry shot up, his seat screeching across the stone floor as his palms slammed against the table. He felt an annoying hot itch in his collar, he roughly tugged his tie away from his neck, trying to ease the burning heat. Not only was his mother's honour in question as one of her quotes was being used against her ideals but this teacher was botching everything he knew.

'Is there something you wish to say? Mr. _Potter_.'

'My _mother _once told me that the age of gallantry seems to dead. You look around and all you see are small men, not big enough to fill their armour. There's not one of them that's able to stand for what is right. Is that what we are encouraging?' Harry pointed at the seven papers by the letter a, 'is our society encouraging _fools_ that can't handle responsibility? Real honour does not come from letting our kind die.' He knew that he was being a fool himself, he knew that the right thing to do would be to shut his mouth and pretend nothing had happened but he was so, infuriated. The looks of repulsion on his fellow students faces only propelled him further into his passion.

'We may not be the same species, but we are of the same kind, magic connects all of us. Magic is the essence which binds all things together. It will last long beyond the time of men,' his words seemed to call the old magic to attention. He could feel it, the very essence of it swelling within the walls of the castle, easing his speeding mind so he could think logically rather than emotionally.

'Mr. Potter-'

'Pendragon,' Harry felt the small tremors of his body stopping as the old magic flowed over him, it felt as if a hand was running down his body and as it passed over him his body relaxed and gained it's strength.

'Pendragon,' Quirrell drawled looking quite annoyed, 'are you sure you got sorted into the right house? Even the Gryffindors weren't that _physical_ in their actions.'

'I suppose it's not something you would understand professor, the passion of the o-' he caught himself before he said the old religion. 'Magic is not something you can learn. Either it's a part of you or it isn't.' Harry's words sparked an indignant spark in his teacher's eyes. 'You are a mere wizard, one who doesn't understand the true scope of the magic that binds us all. If we betray our own kind, the others that also hold the flame of magic, then hell be upon us! The revenge evoked by magic because of the betrayal of your kind will not be merciful as your delusions of hell.'

The class fell into silence as the teacher stared him in anger and his fellow students stared at him in shock. 'Also, _Professor_,' he spoke the title with disdain, making it clear what he thought of Quirrell's status. 'Righteous anger is not something limited to Gryffindors, if you truly believe such a thing then you are not nearly as wise as you should be. I am to the core a Slytherin, I would not be in the house otherwise. I would suggest you check what you say before you speak, lest you sully the honour of a man who is much stronger and smarter than I am.' Harry grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder, 'I would like to excuse myself before I say anything more, I don't trust my control right now.'

Professor Quirrell merely nodded his head, he seemed to have lost his previous persona and was once again the timid fool he was at the beginning of the class, 'goodbye, Mr. Pendragon, I h-hope to see you at my next class.'

Harry merely grunted in acknowledgment before he left the room, ignoring the looks on his fellow students faces. He had a feeling that whatever he had just done was going to completely change the way his fellow Slytherins saw him, he had no idea if that would be a good thing or not.

* * *

><p>'Harry, do you have idea what you've just done? Look, mate, I know we've only known each other for a few days but unfortunately I feel responsible for you.' Blaise pinched the ridge of his nose, trying to ease the annoying pressure that was pressing on his stress tolerance. 'Merlin's beard Harry, nobody is going to look at you the same anymore. Whether you like it or not you're the face of Slytherin.'<p>

'Pardon?' Harry frowned and scanned the halls before Blaise shoved him into an alcove behind a cloth portrait, following in after him.

'Look, you may not realise this but you really were not sneaky at all, everyone in the class knows you were talking about the old religion, the old magic. And you know what else?' Blaise breathed in heavily, he couldn't believe what he was saying. If Harry was as lost as he seemed then he should just leave the poor boy alone but he felt an obligation, as if the kid was his younger brother. 'When each of the kids came here they had an idea of who you were, the so called good guys believed you were the new force of light and the so called bad guys thought you might be the next dark lord. Good job, because you've just proved that each side is right.'

'How could I-' Harry went silent and grimaced as he realised what Blaise was saying. By professing his knowledge of the Old Religion, which Morgan Le Faye was a known priestess of, he proved to the dark followers that he was a dark lord in training and by encouraging the protection of honour and house elves he showed the mercy and passion needed for the new leader of light. 'I should have kept my mouth shut.'

'Yeah, you should have,' Blaise nodded morosely before his nose flared in agitation. 'The Headmaster wants to see you as well, no doubt what happened has already reached his ears.'

'Class _just_ ended,' Harry spoke in disbelief.

'Don't question it, I'm supposed to take you to him.'

'Really?'

'No, Professor McGonagall was but I figured I should, after all I found you first,' Blaise grinned at him weakly before pushing the cloth to the side so Harry could walk out. 'Look, Pendragon, because I feel obligated to help you, I'll be your advisor in all things social. You're going to need it.'

'Advisor?' Harry's green eyes narrowed into suspicious slits as he scanned Blaise, trying to determine if there was any malintent behind his words.

'You've got a good hand on the first rule,' Blaise said with an approving nod.

'Which is?'

'Be suspicious of everyone and everything, never take anything for face value. But now you need to master rule two, don't let your suspicions show.'

'Seriously?' Harry sighed heavily as they stopped in front of a large statue.

'Yeah, so, I don't know the password….' Blaise shrugged before clasping his hand on Harry's shoulder. 'I wish you luck, remember rule's one and two.' He walked off leaving Harry alone in front of the headmaster's office.

Harry frowned at him, 'some advisor,' rolling his eyes he looked at the statue, without warning it rolled away revealing a winding staircase. Without an ounce of surprise Harry walked up the steps, momentarily reminiscing of their escalator like abilities as they wound up the wall as he walked.

'Ah, Harry, m'boy, I'm glad that you made it to my office alright,' Harry stepped into the office, looking around the room that was filled with portraits of previous headmasters and odd gadgets.

'Hello, Headmaster,' Harry's curious gaze stopped on the Headmaster that was watching him with knowing twinkling blue eyes. The knowing look in his eyes curdled Harry's stomach because of the immense disgust that filled him, the man had the same wrong aura that Quirrell did.

'Please sit,' Harry sat where he was bidden, 'lemon drop?' He shook his head refusing the lemon drops, suspicion was the key to survival and apparently the first rule of Slytherin. 'Now, Mr. Potter.'

'Pendragon,' Harry immediately cut in, smiling pleasantly at the shocked look that crossed two faces instantly, both the current headmasters, and the portrait of the first headmaster of Hogwarts.

'I believe the transcript said Potter-Pendragon,' Dumbledore smiled back, the happy sparkle in his eye seemed to only grow.

'So it did,' Harry nodded before folding his hands in his lap, 'what was it you wished to speak to me about Headmaster?'

'Please, call me Albus,' the more Dumbledore saw of Harry the more worried he became. The boy had been raised by unknown guardians, and whoever raised him made him seem so much like Tom Riddle it was terrifying. If only the boy had been put in Gryffindor, perhaps he could have been redeemed. No, Dumbledore mentally scolded himself, they couldn't afford to lose the-boy-who-lived to the other side, he would manage to help the boy, he always had a plan. It couldn't be too hard, he had heard of what had happened in Defense against dark arts. 'Harry, that was an admirable thing you did in class today, standing up to what you believe.'

'It was not admirable, it was immature,' Harry denied immediately, paling slightly as he thought of what his mother's reaction would be when she got his letter. He was already ruining all secrecy they had planned. After following her around so long it was as if he was lost without her, losing all restraints and logical thoughts, submerged in self-doubt and fear. What if he couldn't be as great as her? What if he revealed everything? What if he died because of his immaturity?

'Harry, why are you upset? Will your guardian not take kindly to your exploits?' Harry avoided Dumbledore's gaze as he looked at the portrait of the first headmaster, he knew what the adult was insinuating, that his mother abused him.

'The only one who doesn't take kindly to my exploits is me Headmaster,' Harry only looked away from the portrait when the man inside nodded to Harry, silently ensuring that the Pendragon lineage would remain a secret. Any other day he would think about how the portrait that only _appeared _sentient knew what his look was for, but he was much too frazzled to even consider it.

'Harry, it's _Albus_,' Dumbledore pressed again.

'Sir, I believe it's a disrespect to us both if I call you by your first name. We are nowhere on the same level and we have absolutely no connection to each other.'

'We do, I was the one who found you the night your parents died.'

'Then you would know who set me with the Dursleys? Because I can assure you that was not a good decision, if my mother had not saved me from them then I fear for the kind of fool I would be today.'

'Your mother saved you? How?' Dumbledore inquired, wanting to find out as much as he could about the boys surrogate parent.

'Magic,' Harry retorted sarcastically, now this whole situation seemed implausible to both of the males in the room. Harry was acting so unbelievably teenager like that Dumbledore felt the need to panic. It was not natural for an eleven year old to act as Harry was, there was something so detrimentally wrong with the situation and he couldn't fathom what could have caused the boy to mature so quickly. Harry, however, was appalled with his actions, it was as if he lost all restraints. With one outburst in class he just became tired with how careful he was being with everything and was filled with the stubborn want to go against everyone and everything. Especially since he just found out that he was now a focal person for each side of the battle, it just seemed unrealistic, like a videogame or something, not reality.

* * *

><p><span><strong>AN:** A ramble as to some of my decisions for the plot, read at your pleasure. It may explain some things you find odd.

So, I have Quirrell as turban and garlicless because I don't have him as attempting to steal the philosopher's stone. After he failed to steal the stone Voldemort completely attached himself to Quirrell (which resulted in the turban to hide his face and garlic for the smell). I believe that Quirrell chose that day to steal the stone because of the hype of the-boy-who-lived making his first appearance, which would make large crowds which would make it easy to sneak around. However, since there was none of that, I decided that he figured Hogwarts would be a smarter decision. After all, nobody would suspect a teacher, right? This also connects to why Harry is getting no scar pain, as Quirrell isn't completely conjoined with our darling Tommy boy yet.

Also, some of you might find Harry's emotional sense strange but I have one like that too so it's not abnormal. I bet a ton of you get that too, sometimes there is just a strong sense that can be gathered about a person and Harry is good at seeing it, he's got it in the books too he just focuses it on the wrong places (like Snape).

And goodness gracious, I can never tell if I'm spelling anything wrong with the differences between American and UK spelling -.-

Thank you so much to everyone who has favourited, followed and commented! I never expected that this fic would be such a hit, you guys make my day~ ^^


	9. Chapter 9

'_Harry,' Morgana frowned at the young boy as he fidgeted in place, 'you must concentrate.' _

'_I_ am _concentrating,' he whined, folding his scrawny arms over his chest. _

'_No, you're not.' She sighed and closed her eyes, reminding herself that she was dealing with a child and not an adult. 'Harry, what can you tell me about the people we watched earlier today.' Harry frowned, his small lips forming a pout as he focused on a memory of the martial arts tournament they went to. _

'_They fought,' he mused softly before he straightened, his green eyes glistening with excitement. 'It was so cool! They were like bam! Boom! Pow! Just like real live superheroes!' _

'_Harry!' She snapped, instantly he looked abashed and twiddled his fingers. _

'_Sorry.' _

'_Harry,' Morgana's tone was softer the second time as she ran her long fingers through his scruffy hair. 'What can you tell me about the people who lost? I know you noticed, you're a very perceptive boy.' _

'_They,' his small face scrunched up in utmost focus before he looked at her cautiously. 'They were angry?' _

'_Precisely,' she nodded before smiling at him in delight. 'I knew you would figure it out.' Harry beamed at her taking the compliment and incorporating it into his good mood. 'Without concentration people become angry, when they are angry they don't think straight and make mistakes. That's why we are learning meditation, you are quick to fight, as they were.' _

'_So are you,' he whined, pouting more than previously. Morgana sighed heavily and nodded, mentally scolding herself, she did have an explosive temper. She tried to keep it in around him but it seemed he noticed far more than she thought. _

'_I know, that is why I am meditating with you.' She placed her fingers in his hair and looked him in his eyes. 'Harry, please focus on this. It is imperative that you control your temper.' _

'_Okay, I will,' he smiled at her then squeezed his eyes shut. Harry grinned when he heard his mother laugh. _

'_No, Harry, you need to relax,' he opened his eyes to look at her, laughing as well. 'Close your eyes and calm yourself.' _

'_Ohm,' he started making the strange sounds he had heard on tv that went along with meditation, wincing as she gripped his hair. She wasn't violent, but it wasn't pleasant either, 'what?' _

'_Harry, meditation isn't about making sounds,' Morgana sighed, her light blue eyes a mix of distress and amusement, she was fighting with feeling amused with the boys eccentricities and annoyed with his failings. He's still learning, she mentally reprimanded herself. 'It's about focusing on life, it's not about you, it's about the world. It's about feeling the connections of everything, it's about feeling the old magic.' _

'_I don't get it.' _

'_Close your eyes,' she repeated what she had said for the n__th_ _time that day. 'Don't bother about your breathing, rather think about what happened today, what was good that happened? What was bad? How could you have dealt with it better?' _

'_Margie stole my pencil today, that was bad. I wish she would have asked.' _

'_Not out loud, in your head,' Morgana poked his forehead. 'Think about what could have been different, don't admonish yourself.' _

'_What does admonish mean?' _

'_Scold,' she answered blandly as she remembered, once again, that she was speaking to a nine year old and not an adult. 'Now try, it'll help you keep calm and not get angry.'_

Harry groaned quietly as he flipped the page to his transfiguration textbook. As always after he embarrassed himself, he remembered his mother teaching him to _not _do what he had just done. Come to think of it he hadn't meditated for at least two weeks, his mother stopped checking in on him a year ago, apparently that was a bad idea.

Adjusting his position again he closed his eyes and breathed steadily, attempting to meditate. The past two weeks had been the most stressful in his whole life. His mother had gone into a frenzy getting him ready for school, not voicing half of the things she thought would go wrong. And he had spent the whole time stressing himself into oblivion. Apparently he let his stress get the best of him, he wasn't about to write a letter to his mother about how much was her fault, mostly because that was stupid, but also because it was rude and wrong. It wasn't, after all, her fault that he let himself get lost in his emotions. No matter what excuses he thought up the only thing that was her fault was the fact that she lost her temper in front of him, and she always spent the rest of the time after teaching him that losing his temper was bad, while she taught him ways to control his temper. What was there to be stressed about anyways?

He could feel himself getting lost in his mind as he meditated, why was he agitated? Because he was scared of losing? No, that wasn't right, he disagreed with himself. He was scared of not fitting in, of failing his mother by letting everyone know who she was, and of not being as amazing as her. He instantly caught the connection between most of the points, they were about failing his mother. Why didn't he want to fail her? He didn't want to disappoint her, his reasons were all centered around _him. _

Harry breathed out as he accepted the reasons for his stress, his anxiety, he was focused on himself in a way that was unhealthy. It was unhealthy because the centers of his thoughts were causing him pain. So then, what would be an apt thing to replace those anxieties? What could he focus on that would bring him prosperity rather than pain? If he were a Christian he would say God, if he were a philosopher he might saw life, if he was a Buddhist it's well _nothing_, but he was a wizard, so he thought of magic.

Tilting his head Harry started feeling the familiar pressure that had building up for the past week, he was unimpressed that after such a short period of time the feeling was overwhelming him. It didn't take him long to realize that the thing was old magic. He had never been around such a large concentration of old magic before so it was overwhelming him, he was weak! No, he forced such negative thoughts out of his mind, he was inexperienced. Breathing out calmly he let the old magic swell and flow through him. Taking the time to accept it was lessening the pressure, relaxing his tense body.

'Harry!' Harry's state of serenity was broken by Theodore's exuberant cry. 'Sorry,' the newcomer backed away at the cold, annoyed look that was evident in Harry's face. The look on Harry's face was so _Morgana_ that anybody who saw it would be fearful, even Dumbledore himself. Thankfully Dumbledore was not in the room or else he would have drawn the dreadfully incorrect assumption that Harry was evil. Which he wasn't, Morgana didn't want an evil son, she wanted her magic back, that wouldn't come with an evil son so, therefore, she didn't teach him to be evil. Lose on a temper however? She had taught him that, no matter how unwillingly.

'It's,' sighing he closed his eyes, 'okay. What's going on?' Harry smiled at Theodore who cautiously walked to his bed that was one over from Harry's.

'Well, I wanted to see how you were doing after dada.'

'Ah,' Harry frowned and ran his fingers through his hair, ruffing the most scruffy part. 'I apologise for that, I was stressed about school and let that get the better of me.'

'It's alright,' Theodore nodded slowly, analyzing Harry, trying to determine the truth of the statement.

'Theo!' Blaise entered the room and hopped on his bed, that was in between the two males. 'That's where you went to!"

'Blaise,' Harry caught the annoyed look that flashed across the pureblood Slytherin's face as his interrogation time got interrupted.

'As I said, I'm Harry's advisor so you can't speak to him without me.'

'That's crazy, why do you need to be in the room?' Theodore complained.

'Harry is unlearned in the art of court speech,' Blaise started off dramatically.

'I like to imagine I know how to speak to a court,' Harry tilted his head as his green eyes sharpened destroying the innocent appearance he was gaining with the tilt of his head. The look was almost a direct mimicry of his mothers when she was challenging someone.

'I like to imagine you can too,' Blaise chirped before grinning at Harry.

'Blaise,' Theodore spoke slowly as he stared at Blaise's fingers. Harry followed his gaze to see Blaise was playing with a black quill. 'That's not yours.'

'This?' Blaise looked down at his quill, tilting it to either side before shrugging. 'So it isn't, I could have sworn it was mine, I have one just like it.'

'No, you don't,' Theodore rolled his eyes before looking at Harry. 'I would think twice before letting him be your advisor, he's got nimble fingers that one. You'll find more things in his possession then knowledge he can give you.'

'Kleptomaniac?' Harry perked up suddenly interested in Blaises strange habits.

'I don't steal, I mistake things as mine,' Blaise looked at the quill, 'I may as well keep it. I have no idea who's it even is. Right, Harry, I forget to tell you, I have an owl you can borrow if you like. It's in the tower, it's the black barn owl. The only one of three in Great Britain, they are very rare.' He spoke proudly, grinning at his show of wealth.

'I would imagine,' Harry stood up and grabbed his letter. 'They would all have been killed by their parents after all, just for being different.' He swept out of the room leaving the two other Slytherins behind in discomfort. Harry's tone was bitter, filled with anger towards Morgana's early life. This world was no different from the animal kingdom, those who were different were exterminated.

* * *

><p>Harry's eyebrows rose as a white owl swooped down to their table at breakfast, it stopped in front of him and stuck out it's leg, a letter strapped to it. 'Hello,' he untied the letter and scanned its contents batting the owl away as it tried to bite his nose. His eyes narrowed and he picked up a piece of bacon absently giving it to the owl.<p>

'Who's owl is that?' Pansy frowned at it, not recognizing it.

'Mine, apparently,' Harry mused as he ate his toast, he stuffed the letter into his bag after reading the first line on the front that identified the owl as his. There was no reason for them to see the letter too, it was between him and his mother. Plus, he wasn't sure if she was going be upset with him for losing his temper in class, he would prefer not to read that in front of his housemates either. Sighing at the burdens that hiding a parents identity caused him, he went back to eating breakfast. His owl, apparently, was content to lounge on the table ruffling her white feathers from time to time.

'Can you at least send her away?' Daphne raised a slender eyebrow at the bird that stared back at her with haughty amber eyes. 'Animals shouldn't be at the table.'

'Hedwig,' Harry watched as the owl looked at him with an almost superior glint in her eyes. 'I'm sure there's a roost for you.' He watched with an amused smile as she shook her body, a look of annoyance implanted on her face. It was really no surprise that Morgana bought an animal with attitude. Clicking in retort the owl flew away, leaving Harry with the impression that if he knew how to speak owl, he would be offended.

'You know, I knew someone else with a haughty bird,' the students at the Slytherin table watched the Bloody Baron as he floated behind Pansy. The older years were frankly quite curious and were analysing the first years, the Bloody Baron barely ever wasted his time on the students, but since the new batch of hatchlings he had been spouting random bitter statements. 'But of course it was a _raven_ and it's mistress was quite sure to make sport with it.' The Bloody Baron drifted away after, oblivious to the spark that lit up in Draco Malfoys eyes.

'I think he's talking about Morgan Le Faye,' he smirked, as he ran his hand on the top of his head, making sure his platinum blond hair was still slicked down.

'Why do you think he's going on about her?' Pansy's eyes widened as she leaned towards Draco, stroking his already over inflated ego.

'Maybe he see promise in this years batch of hatchlings,' one the sixth years years sneered at the younglings as his friends laughed at the very idea that the first years had the power of Morgan Le Faye.

'Lay off them Cap,' a Slytherin across from him stared at him with lazy blue eyes before he looked at the hatchlings with a smirk, 'at least until we're alone.'

'Tch,' the sixth year rolled his grey eyes before snarling at the first years making his, rather abnormally large, crooked teeth stand out.

'That's Marcus Flint,' Blaise whispered to Harry, as he looked at the sixth year. 'He's the captain of the quidditch team, the guy who told him off is a fourth year, Lucien Boyle. He's aiming for the spot of beater this year so he's been showing off his confidence since he saw Flint. Only way Flint'll take a weakling is if they bribe him, not unheard of in our house, otherwise people show off,' Blaise shrugged looking impartial to the moral challenges in Slytherin.

'How do you know all this?' Harry frowned going red in his face as Tracey Davis smirked at him.

'How do we not? It's our job to know, you're going to fall behind if you keep being so oblivious.'

'Fall behind,' Millicent mocked before snickering.

'And you said you know court lingo, you got a lot to learn kiddo,' Blaise ruffled Harry's hair making the younger boy scowl and fix it quickly.

'We're the same age.' Harry shot back, annoyed with the lack of acknowledgment Blaise was giving him.

'Potter!' Harry looked behind him, frowning when he saw the scowling sixth year. He wisely kept his mouth shut instead of retorting that he went by Pendragon. 'You better practice hard this year!'

'Practice?' Harry leaned away from the older teen, completely confused.

'Your father got a lot of trophies for _Gryffindor,_' cue sneer, Harry was actually surprised when the boy didn't spit in distaste for the other house, 'when he was in school. You better do the same for us or I'll skin you myself,' Flint jabbed his finger into Harry's chest before walking away, Boyle following after him. Harry fixed his shirt with a look of annoyance, glaring at his italian _advisor_ who had started laughing instead of helping him.

'You better practice, Flints got his eyes on you. Apparently Wood has some new talent with the Weasley twins taking up beater positions this year, nobody wants to see Flint lose to that ponce.' Theodore spoke for Blaise who merely nodded in agreement.

'Slytherin hasn't lost the house cup since Flint became captain,' Blaise chirped looking far too pleased with Harry's current predicament.

'Great,' the young Pendragon muttered looking so much like Merlin after Arthur dumped his armour in the young manservants arms that if Morgana had seen him, she would have had a heart attack and banned Harry from being upset again. Because yes, his mother did have a habit of banning impossible things.

'It's not that bad,' Draco scowled at the group before straightening his shoulders with pride, '_I'm_ going to be the seeker next year. _I _would be honoured if Flint was already scouting me.'

'Yeah, how much is your father going to pay?' Daphne retorted, despite it only being a few days Harry was actually seeing a lot of the culture that was the Slytherin house. He knew that the Malfoys, Goyles, Parkinsons, Bulstrodes, Notts, and Crabbes were hardcore dark families. Whereas the Zabinis, Davis', and Greengrasses were neutral. However where Blaise and Tracey were just neutral and were treated like dark families, or rather with respect, Daphne was more outcasted because of her harsh tongue. She was either the center of the group or the outside, it depended who her focus was on.

'What? Are you turning into a Gryffindor on us?' Pansy snapped before lifting her smushed nose in the air arrogantly.

'No, I was asking a _question_,' and it was well known throughout the Slytherin house of the ferocity the two girls had for each other, they were rivals. 'Or is that too hard for your tiny brain to comprehend.'

'Well, we're going now!' Blaise stood up and dragged Harry after him, making it obvious that he wanted to keep away from the building tension. 'Keep it in house guys, don't forget!' He waved goodbye to the table with a cheeky smile.

'Was that really necessary?' Harry smoothed out his sleeves after Blaise let him go, frowning with the Blaises physical nature. The longer he knew the Italian the more apprehensive he become, the italian was practically a skinship monster.

'You haven't seen those two get at it,' Blaise rolled his eyes looking every bit the eldest of the first year Slytherins. 'I usually have to break them up, it gets annoying after awhile. Hey, look, there's the blood traitor and mudblood,' Blaise said flippantly before walking over to Neville and Hermione. Harry's mouth fell open as he gaped after the older boy, he had no idea whether Blaise was being rude or making fun of dark families views on wizards. In fact, he had absolutely no idea what to think of Blaise at all. Perhaps it was part of being a wizard, being completely and utterly confusing.

Shaking his head Harry followed after Blaise, smiling at Hermione and Neville weakly, hoping with all his being that they hadn't heard what the italian said about them, 'morning.'

'Morning Harry,' Hermione smiled at him before casting an anxious look at the Gryffindors that were staring the the quartet with dark expressions. 'Don't look now but I don't your house isn't happy with us.'

'Don't I know it,' Neville moaned as he stared longingly at the Hufflepuff table, 'I wish the hat had just sorted me where I wanted.'

'You're meant to be a Gryffindor Neville, that's why you're there.' Blaise slung his arm around the young lion's shoulders grinning cheekily at the fuming lion cubs that were watching. Of course the Slytherins watching had calculated glares focused on the four as well, it had after all gotten around that Neville was useful in _some _way, and whether they believed it or not didn't matter. But the two hatchlings were with a mudblood as well, that wasn't approved of.

'With that kind of stupid confidence I'd think you would be a lion too,' Hermione frowned at the Slytherin table with a prim glint of disapproval in her brown eyes.

'Sadly I'm stuck with him,' Harry grumbled as he walked towards their next class.

'I wouldn't mind being stuck with him,' Neville smiled weakly at Blaise. The four had met a couple of times over the past week and the young Longbottom scion was starting to see Blaise as some kind of hero and was sticking to him, trying to learn confidence through the crafty snake.

'I know,' Blaise smirked at the younger boy before scowling at Harry, '_he _wouldn't mind being stuck with me.'

'Yeah, and?' Harry questioned with a light tone, clearly not taking Blaise seriously.

'What about you Hermione. You, me, together,' Blaise grinned at the young ravenclaw before winking, mimicking the older years he had seen interacting with some girls. He was not a casanova at all but everyone knew that give him a few years to grow into his body and he would be breaking hearts left right and center, a modern Don Juan.

'Please,' scoffing Hermione walked faster to catch up with Harry. It was strange what being thrown into a new place did to people, because despite only knowing each other for a week the four were already treating each other like they had known everyone for years. Harry supposed that's what his mother had meant about being careful about who you choose, because once a bond is formed it'll be hard to break. He just hoped he made the right choice in companions.

* * *

><p><span><strong>AN:** I am _so _not used to getting attention for my stories, I'll try and respond to reviews ^^ Thank you so much for the attention! Comments, follows, and favourites are all greatly valued!

**MEIPHANTOMHIVE:** Haha thanks! Yeah he is, I get paranoid that he's too mature sometimes. Awww thank you~ I felt the same about Blaise being too much like Draco so I decided to base him after one of my favourite celebrity trolls XD Oh, most definitely, the most stuff will happen in second year though let's just say Harry's compulsiveness is his Achilles heel.

**kagekoTatamaki:** Thanks! I hope I can keep your love for my story :)

**teedub:** Haha yeah, I wish I could say that was my genius but that was pure british awesomeness that created that quote, taken from the show

**Sennybee98:** So far he is, he hasn't really picked a side yet he might just be grey. He does know _a little _bit, mostly he just recognizes it's presence and picked up a few skills, not sure the amount of solid knowledge he has though, still deciding. I don't want him to be too powerful and become unrealistic...

**Mizzrazz72:** Yeah it totally is, unfortunately he tends to be too impatient to get it under control...

**geetac:** I'm glad! I hope this one lived up to your expectations :)

**Princess Meria:** Here it is! A little late, right? I'll try to update faster ^^

**bandgsecuritiyaw:** I think so too~

**Scarred Seeker:** You're welcome~ You're hoping for longer chapters aren't you? I'll try to write longer chapters XD

**Penny is wise:** Thanks! I try :P


	10. Chapter 10

Harry lifted his mother's letter up, his eyes narrowed in the dim light. He truly missed electricity, as he sighed the candlelight flickered, brightening. A smirk worked it's way onto his face as he glanced at it with approval before looking back at the letter. His previous letter from his mother spoke only of her praise for his selection of house, the one after affirmed his selection in friends, this current one, however, started with pleasantries and worked into soldering. Temper not befitting of a noble, severe lacking of decorum, Harry was visually wilted as the words stood out to him from the page.

'What's wrong with you?' Harry lowered his letter only to see bright platinum blonde hair filling his vision. As if Draco hadn't spoken to him Harry lifted his letter again. 'I don't think you're making a good decision with friends. The blood traitor and mudblood? I can show you who your true friends are.' Draco wisely kept his mouth shut about Harry, seeing as that was the only person he deemed acceptable.

'How do you determine the true virtue of people?' Harry folded up his letter placing it in his bag, the scoldings of his mothers echoing in his mind, reminding him to be careful how he acted. 'I don't doubt you have the capability to choose the proper people to crowd with, I am unsure of how I fit into it, we are not on the same social tier.'

Draco went silent running through Harry's words before deciding that Harry was implying that he was below Draco, which Harry meant the exact opposite. 'Keep my words in mind, before you lose all of the status you think you have,' standing up the Malfoy firstborn left the library, no doubt looking to cause trouble.

'Obviously you know who the right people are,' Harry watched as the youngest Weasley boy dropped down into the sat opposite Harry, looking a touch uncomfortable. No doubt because Harry was indeed a Slytherin, but the whole boy-who-lived nonsense seemed to be enough to make the lion cub forget the house of the person he was talking to.

'Do I?' Harry was honestly surprised that Ron hadn't run in guns blazing.

'Of course! You would never side with those disgusting snakes! Zabini's obvious hanging off you so that he can taint your mind. It'd be much better if you were in Gryffindor rather than with those future dark wizards.'

'It's funny there was quite a large amount of dark wizards in Gryffindor. Like Ethelred the Ever-Ready, Raczidian, and Merwyn the Malicious. In fact every Hogwarts house has contained at least one dark wizard. For you to call them future death eaters because of the last twenty years of people then you are severely ignorant. The world is in fact not black and white, that is the mindset of a child. The world is overcome by grey, Mr. Weasley. So, therefore, I take offense with how you accuse my friend Blaise of being an evil wizard.'

Ron went silent running through what Harry had said before going red, looking upset. 'Look at what they have done to you! You're already becoming confused! We need to get you away from them!'

'Pardon?' Harry's eyes widened in surprise as Ron started going on a tangent about how he was being corrupted by the snakes and how he didn't know what he was saying.

'Don't worry, mate, I'll take care of you. I'll make sure you don't get confused by those stupid snakes!' Ron looked like he was about to fist bump the air in his excitement. 'You can still be great! You just need to surround yourself with the right people.'

'Who are not the right people?' Harry rested his chin on his palm, watching with lidded eyes as Ron brightened, looking excited that the great Harry Potter was listening to him, when really, Harry Pendragon was indulging him. He found it quite interesting that despite not liking each other both Ron and Draco were coming at him with the exact same pitch.

'Blaise Zabini, and that, that know it all, Granger.' Ron huffed as he crossed his arms, 'she always helps Neville with his homework but never spares a glance to the rest of us.'

'I don't suppose it's your temperament that has kept her from helping you. I have known Hermione for quite a while and she has seemed to help people who need it.' Harry didn't mention how she was, in fact, quite good at sounding derogatory and patronizing. It was something that the trio had determined to weed out of her. Well, Harry and Blaise had decided on, Neville just followed along still not self-assured enough to make his own plans. The duo were planted on fixing that as well. Sometimes it seemed more like Hermione and Neville were Harry and Blaises pet projects, but no doubt everything would work out and that feeling would leave.

'Of course not, she's an annoying braggart that can't keep her stupid controlling thoughts to herself!'

'You're wrong,' Harry stood up and ran his hand through his hair. He felt great injustice towards Hermione with what Ron was saying, but the fiery passion of loyalty wasn't what was guiding him. It was purely justice, his view of right and wrong. He believed it was wrong to be so harsh to someone who was still learning. However, Ron was also still learning, so Harry knew he shouldn't be too rude. But, of course, Harry was also young so he wasn't about to purposefully take the moral high road, especially not when he would be excused for any stupidity.

'I'm wrong?'

'Yes, Hermione is not who you think she is.' Harry tilted his head so he was looking at Ron, a lopsided grin curling at his lips. 'And the friends I have chosen are good, perhaps not as great as you would like, but they are all good people.'

'A know it all, a coward, and a slimy snake, I don't see the good in that,' Harry walked away, ignoring Ron's comment. He would get his just deserts if he kept acting the way he was, and who was Harry to stand in the way?

* * *

><p>Morgana closed her eyes and breathed slowly, calming her nervousness. She had done the ceremony countless other times and every time she had failed. Her head fell down as if all muscles has been cut so her head was hanging limply. Her mouth opened slowly and she drew in a heavy breath as if she had just gotten over being ill, taking her first pure unhindered breath since becoming better. With the magic filled air she started chanting, the candles around her came to life with the power of the old magic surrounding her.<p>

She could hear the whispers of what once was Lily Potter behind her, muttering about insanity and doing the same thing over and over. The Lily that was wandering the room was not a ghost, not in all senses of the word anyways. Ghosts were merely an imprint of a spirit on the world, much like the ashen imprints of people left over from nuclear missiles in Japan. The basic form of the person was there, but it was not an exact likeness, there were things about the person that could never be gleaned from prying eyes. Lily, however, was essentially a complete being. The only thing the dead woman needed was a body, then she would be without a single aspect missing. Such was the power of the Old Religion, binding two souls together, without any thought to their feelings upon the matter.

A flare of annoyance welled up in Morgana's chest; she had been stuck all those years with Lily's love tethered to her own being, all of the reasoning of the Old Religions plans. Those plans where their only reasoning was rested upon bringing balance. But, she had gotten used to the impossible development, and the two had become something akin to sisters, both eager to help and care for Harry. Like all sisters there were moments when they didn't get along at all, and that was whenever Morgana strived to gain her magic back.

'This isn't going to work,' Lily's ghost, if she could be called that, walked around the chalk diagram Morgana was kneeling in. 'When it is time it will happen.'

Morgana's upper lip twitched in aggravation, the calming scent of fern wafted through the room, coming from her candles. She did not make an effort for any retorts to Lily, instead she continued speaking the chants for the ceremony.

'The old magic will return when it feels you have changed enough.' Lily had somehow become the spokesman for the old religion. Which never would have happened if she hadn't been so foolish. The only reason Lily had been connected to Morgana was because before she had died she had gone through an ancient ceremony of sacrifice, asking the old religion to save her child. And it had worked, the old religion was all about balance, a life for a life. And since she gave her life to fuel the spell, she then belonged to the old religion for it to do with her as it wished. What it wished was for her to be planted within Morgana in a strange bond.

The bond was very different when it first began, at first Morgana could feel the echoes of Lily's emotions for her son. As Morgana helped Harry and acted upon Lily's love she had started to remember what feelings of life, such as love, felt like. The more those pure feelings grew in her the more Lily became detached from her. After a year of being connected Morgana could hear her voice, after two she could see her form, by four years they would argue on the best way to punish Harry.

The ceremony ended almost too suddenly for Morgana's tastes, and not soon enough for Lily's. Sighing Morgana collected the candles and set them away in her cupboard, 'you do not know everything you think you do.' Morgana sighed and tilted her head from side to side, her neck always ached after that ritual.

'I know a lot,' Lily ran her fingers through her hair watching as Morgana cleaned up the chalk. 'You're still going to try and see if your magic is back?'

'Of course,' Morgana waved her hand in the air and whispered a spell she was well acquainted with, tsking when she had no response. 'Ah well,' her eyes glinted with confidence, 'patience and I are no strangers, I'll get this remedied.' Lily's lips quirked into an amused smile as she nodded, as much as she didn't like Morgana's determination to rush things, she had to admire her persistence.

* * *

><p>'It's impossible,' Harry stared at the broom that was still firmly planted on the ground, not moving a tiny bit.<p>

'Patience,' Blaise grinned, gripping his broom that came up the first time he called it.

'You're not the first one to tell me that,' Harry grimaced when he realised that even Neville had his broom in his hands. 'Up!' The broom just wiggled on the ground as if taunting him.

'Weird, brooms usually don't usually resist so much,' Harry pressed his lips together as Ron walked up to him. 'It must be the bad energy,' Ron glared at Blaise who just smiled back.

'Oh look, a wild Weasel, they don't come out of their holes often,' Blaise chirped as he leaned on his broom.

'Take that back you nasty snake!' Ron pointed his broom at Blaise as if it were a wand.

'Back down,' Harry commanded Ron, his annoyance being transferred to a new medium or rather the young Weasley.

'Yeah Weasley,' Draco hissed as if the name itself were an insult, 'back down.' Harry stepped back as the two started stepping towards each other, eyes flaming with anger. He would let them duke it out and happily remain in the background.

'Is this going to happen every time they run into each other,' Neville questioned, a grimace firmly planted on his face.

'Don't doubt it,' Blaise tossed an orb in the air as if it were a tennis ball. Both Harry and Neville paused before narrowing their eyes at the young Italian. Instantly Neville was patting down his pockets before rolling his eyes.

'Really?' Neville looked completely and utterly amused as he realised that the remembrall was his and somehow Blaise had nicked it from his pockets. Really Hermione was the only one who disliked Blaises habits, the rest of the group just thought it was hilarious.

'What?' Blaise paused before looking at the remembrall. 'Aha, whoops?' With a shrug of his shoulders Blaise continued tossing it in the air, finding it more amusing than Draco and Ron fighting.

'We should be heading out,' Neville stuffed his hands in his pockets, scrunching up his nose as a group of Gryffindor's pushed by him. Hanging out with Harry and Blaise was really impacting his social life, the Gryffindor's were between believing that he thought he was good to hang with them, to thinking that he was a dark wizard in training. Neville a dark wizard? They seemed oblivious to just how ludicrous that sounded.

'Yeah,' with a resigned sigh Harry reached down and grabbed the shaft of the school broom. When the teacher hadn't been looking during the lesson he had snatched it up and then continued with the lesson doing perfectly fine once he got on. He had placed it down on the ground and tried again shortly after class had ended, with no result. If anything he should have raised it first. Clearly he wasn't as skilled as he once presumed he was.

'So, do we go look for our bookworm?' Blaise ran his fingers through his hair, looking at the moving mass of red and green.

'Our b-bookworm?' Neville repeated after him. 'We can't just declare Hermione as ours.'

'It's not literal,' Blaise patted Neville's head reassuringly, 'it's more a term of endearment rather than anything.' Harry nodded and ran his fingers through his hair, his mother had always said such things as well.

'Blaise, the group of us are heading to the common room, are you…..coming?' Pansy acted as if she could not see Neville.

'Sure,' Blaise shrugged and started walking with Pansy.

'Pendragon, are you coming or not?' Pansy frowned at Harry, looking annoyed with his lack of movement.

'I...suppose,' Harry shook his head before smiling at Neville. 'See you tomorrow,' after Neville said his farewell Harry started following after the two of them, running to catch up.

'Are we finally talking about status?' Blaise asked, glancing at Draco who was prancing around as if he ruled the school.

'Yes,' Pansy sighed and looked at Harry. 'I dread to see who will take Draco's place.'

'I don't, glad everyone's finally come to their sense. Draco couldn't lead the group.'

'Since when was he a leader?' Harry frowned, his green eyes sharpening as he stared at Pansy.

'Slytherin always selects one representative for each year. The representative is essentially the leader and is crucial for in house politics. You met Flint? He's the sixth year representative, Bulstrode has an older brother, he's the fourth year representative. The seventh year representative is a girl by the name of Zoe Accrington, and so on.'

'And Draco was our representative?' Harry frowned looking disgusted.

'Yes, and now we're electing a new one,' Pansy hissed the password to the designated wall which moved aside for their entrance.

'Zoe Accrington is going to be holding the event, as she is the oldest representative.' Blaise led Harry to the corner of the common room beside the fireplace. The other four, Millicent Bulstrode, Theodore Nott, Daphne Greengrass, and Tracey Davis were already seated on the couch, waiting for the last three.

'We're holding this event without the other three first years?' A tall girl with dark brown hair swept past Harry and Blaise, her hazel eyes were amused, but were glinting with authority as she claimed the most decorative chair.

'Yes, we are discluding Draco Malfoy because he has failed to withhold his position to the degree that is necessary of a representative.' Pansy took a seat beside Zoe, essentially claiming herself as the next person of power aside from her. 'Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe are also being removed as their loyalties lie to their duty to support Draco. Any choices they make will be biased, therefore, they are not here.'

'Good,' Zoe smiled emotionlessly at Pansy before scanning the group. 'Now, Mr. Pendragon I'd be honoured if you sat beside me,' ignoring the look of shock on Pansy's face she guided Harry to sitting on her left, the place of power for the male. 'Who brought concern of Mr. Malfoy's abilities?'

'I did,' Tracey David inclined her head in Zoe's direction. 'We have barely started our school year but already out representative is being ridicule upon us. His name is a joke to the students, everyone knows his power stems from his father's money and not his own abilities. We need a representative that will make a name for us, and not bring laughter to our memory.'

'And who agrees?' Zoe folded her hands in her lap, watching the hatchlings with critical eyes. Instantaneously all six Slytherins made signs or agreement. 'Then we shall need a proxy until we can properly asern who will be the new representative. Tracey?'

'I am honoured you would consider me worthy enough to stand in for that position, I already had a candidate in mind.' Tracey smiled sweetly, looking pleased with how everything was turning out.

'Oh?' Zoe nodded, willing to hear her idea.

'As we all know our school was looking forwards to getting Harry Potter,' Tracey started, ignoring the uncomfortable looked that flashed across Harry's face and the knowing one on Zoe's. 'However, the Slytherin house got Harry Pendragon. He has already curried favour with some Ravenclaws and Gryffindors, as well shown his passion that is closely correlated to ambition. He will do well as a representative.'

'I quite agree,' Zoe nodded her head before scanning the group. 'All in favour?' Five Slytherins nodded, only Harry and Pansy did not respond. 'That is the majority, Mr. Pendragon is the new representative. Good luck,' Zoe smiled at him before walking away, being stopped by the other five representatives and a small group of her own age group who wanted to hear what happened.

'Look at that, you're practically a Lord,' Tracey chirped before standing up and walking away. Harry frowned in discomfort, certain he missed some hidden meaning what she said.

'Guess I'll have to teach you a new set of skills,' Blaise mused.

* * *

><p>September went by smoothly for the quartet. They would spend their afternoons studying the library together, taking evenings for breaks and avoiding both Ron and Draco whenever they could. The two were getting more riled up as time went on, eager to get Harry on one of their sides. Both of them seemed to imagine that Harry could only pick a side if he picked one of them. Draco seemed to think that if he got Harry on his side then he could once again be the representative of their year. But he had completely lost it. Harry treated them the way he treated Quirrell, with indifference. But of course, trouble could not always be avoided, the groups indifference to the world was broken shortly after Neville went missing from one of their studying sessions, coming back later as a blubbering mess.<p>

'Neville, calm down,' Harry sat down beside Neville and ran his fingers through the older boys hair, emulating what his Mother always did when he was upset. 'You're okay.'

'B-b-but, it was a-a-a dog!' Neville's hands shook as he tried to grab his knees, hoping that it would calm his jittery body.

'It's hardly a surprise that a dog is at the school, Neville.' Hermione rolled her eyes her tone just as pretentious as previously, 'Hagrid himself has a big dog.'

'Not one with three heads!' He snapped back, oblivious to the glares Harry and Blaise sent Hermione.

'Like a hellhound?' Harry questioned as Blaise whispered to Hermione, lecturing her on the way to deal with people who are upset.

'I-I don't know! Ron made me go and-'

'He did what!' Blaise frowned, his eyebrows furrowing with anger.

'I was with Dumbledore, and-and, Ron came in, and we were supposed to be friends. He said he wanted me t-to find out who Harry's mother was and tell him. T-then he said Gryffindors must stick together, a-and I know the views of Slytherins.'

'No!' Hermione shook her head look completely confused, 'I can't imagine Dumbledore would encourage a divide between houses, much less being prejudiced.'

'M-maybe I misunderstood,' Neville deflated, knowing that he had not actually heard wrong.

'A three headed dog?' Blaise questioned, easing the group off of the subject of Dumbledore's shaky actions. 'Where?'

'The third floor corridor, R-Ron, said it was defending something, a stone of F-Famel or something.'

'Famel?' Harry frowned, the name meant nothing to him and he could see everyone felt the same. The Quartet had no idea that it was really Flamel and they could care less, they were more incensed that Neville had been forced into a situation against his will.

'Maybe we should check the corridor, see for sure what it is.' Hermione was eager to see exactly what it was in the corridor, she had been dying of curiosity the whole time previously. 'Neville, you do not have to come if you don't want to.'

'N-no it's okay. I c-can't let you guys go alone,' his jaw lifted in confidence, despite his fear he would not let his friends go there without help.

'Alright, tomorrow night we will go to the third corridor,' Blaise nodded his head, his words steeped with authority.

* * *

><p><span><strong>AN:** Thank you for follows, reviews and favourites! I apologize for any mistakes in my writing, I'm not the best at editing my own work...

**Penny is wise:** Thank you! And really? That's good, she should be coming in more :)

**DZ2:** Thank you! Yeah, I figured Morgana would never look after a child willingly. I figured she would do something to get back at them, but at the same time she promised they would never see her again so it would have to be crafty. I always loved Harry and Hermione's friendship, it'll definitely stick with them ^^ The Bloody Baron doesn't _really _know anything but he's clever and is close to figuring out that the real Morgana is taking care of Harry. he's mostly just reminiscing over the good old days.

**Scarred Seeker:** Oh, I'm definitely planning some major Ron bashing, I've never really liked him. Honestly I never saw him as a good fit for Harry and Hermione.

**teedub:** I hope I'll be able to make it clear, I always have trouble with that kind of thing...

**geetac:** thank you ^^

**sonsky:** this is true, however since Rowling has Merlin as a Hogwarts student I revised the timeline a bit.

**NatNicole:** Why thank you!

**haraf:** you're welcome

**Pric3y:** haha yup! And he'll be shut down a lot more XD

**darkworkangel:** thank you! I look forward to posting more :P

**mwinter1:** posting more~


	11. Chapter 11

'Potter has been made the representative,' Severus sighed and massaged his temples as if it would soothe the headache that was wrecking havoc on his mind.

'Has he?' Albus entwined his fingers on top of his desk, his face oddly serious. 'Tom was also his years representative.' Sighing Albus picked up a lemon drop, 'I am questioning Harry's role in the prophecy.' Severus narrowed his eyes, finally sitting down in the seat across from Albus' desk.

'You think he is not the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord?'

'I am unsure,' Albus sucked on the lemon drop mutely, considering what he had learned about Harry in the month he had been in school. 'We had wondered if it was him or Neville that was the one in the prophecy. Truly there was no time frame given, Neville may yet be marked his equal.'

'You don't think the Potter boys scar counts as the mark?' Severus frowned, a dark glint making his eyes warp and twist as if shadows were dancing inside.

'Prophecies are never as clear as one first imagines,' Albus stuck his finger in the air as Fawkes trilled, as if agreeing with the aging headmaster. 'I worry that Harry may follow in Tom's footsteps.'

'Because he's a Slytherin,' Severus frowned, well aware of the headmasters expectation that he would be in the Gryffindor house, much like Neville was. If Severus were to be honest with himself, he would admit that the boy had a dark quality, not one of evil, but one of knowledge. The boy felt as if he knew some secret, one that must be controlled, lest it destroy all that is known.

'No, no, my dear boy, not at all,' Albus shook his head dismissively. 'It is rather his actions that worry me. Harry entered the school entertaining relationships with most people he came in contact with.' Severus refused the biting urge to comment that such actions were common among juvenile students in a new year of school. Not that he was defending the Potter spawn. 'He has now gained the leadership role over all of the Slytherin first years, and he has showed disregard for teachers. I fear one day we shall find him sneaking into the restricted section to look at books on the dark arts.'

'A good Slytherin would not sneak, he would be cunning enough to gain permissible entrance,' Severus drawled, smirking faintly at the deadpan look Albus sent him.

'The point, Severus, remains the same. Harry may get into things that are dangerous for a young and developing mind like his. I don't understand why he keeps denying the young Ron's advances for friendship, the Weasley's are such a nice family. They would be good for him.'

'I have no doubts that the _cosy_ characteristics of the family are appealing for you but I don't fault the boy for resisting all signs of acquaintance. Every moment I have seen the two communicate, the young Weasley has insulted him in some form.'

'I see,' Albus spoke slowly, making it clear that he did in fact hear Severus, but that he could really not care less about what he was saying. After all, Albus had a pre-established view of what must happen, and his only concern was making it happen. 'Have you any news on Quirrell?'

'No, he has made no signs of going towards the third floor corridor. If he is going to, it won't be any time soon.'

'Keep an eye on him Severus, it's important that he doesn't get his hand on the stone.' Severus nodded before dismissing himself from the headmaster's presence, he could tell the meeting was over.

* * *

><p>'Are you sure you want to do this?' Neville frowned and scratched the back of his head looking distinctly uncomfortable.<p>

'Of course,' Blaise nodded, easily taking the lead. 'If the headmaster does have a dangerous creature in the school, such as a three headed dog, then appropriate measures must be taken.'

'Like?' Hermione questioned, still looking uncertain. She wasn't about to believe the dangers the teachers were enforcing upon them until she saw proof, until then she was going to go along with them just enough that she could keep them out of trouble.

'We would have to tell the authorities,' Harry spoke firmly leaving no room for any other thoughts. 'Much like it is a King's duty to ensure his people are safe, no matter the costs, it is also the headmaster's duty to ensure his students are safe, no matter the cost. If he has brought a dangerous creature into the school then something must be done.'

'My mother is on the school board,' Blaise spoke up, unlike when Draco spoke his words seem to be just a statement of fact rather than bragging. 'If we got sizable evidence of what the headmaster is doing then we could get the whole matter under control.'

'But we can't risk Dumbledore being kicked out, better the evil we know than the evil we don't.'

'You're talking about getting the headmaster sacked! If he were truly a king that would be _treason_,' Hermione hissed, looking appalled with the way things were going.

'Look at it this way, if the headmaster is willing to bring in an object dangerous enough that it must be guarded by a three headed dog, then what else is he willing to do?' Harry watched as Hermione's lips twitched, showing signs of her internal rationalisation.

'But it's _Dumbledore_,' Neville added in, 'he's the leader of the light! Why would he willingly put the students in harm?'

'You can't be thinking that he doesn't know,' Blaise argued back, 'he was the one to tell us to stay away from that floor. Clearly he not only knows but _authorised _it.'

'This is the danger with even numbers,' Harry mumbled to himself, when the odds were so even, no decisions could ever be made. Hermione, hearing what he had to say, smiled at him looking amused with his point.

'Look, we aren't going to come to an agreement anytime soon, let's find a way to get some proof, and deal with the rest later,' Hermione laid down her thoughts and went red as the three boys stared at her intently, 'what?'

'Brilliant,' Blaise beamed at her before pulling a camera and scissors out of his bag. 'I already got a means of proof.'

'Scissors?' Neville paled as he stared at them.

'Well, how else are we to prove we took the picture?'

'B-but, that means one of us has to get close enough to cut off some hair!'

'I know!' Blaise nodded, not really seeing anything wrong with his plan. 'Since you're the Gryffindor.'

'No, no way,' Neville shook his head and waved his hands in front of him vigorously. 'Not happening.'

'I'm sure there is a simple spell that will do something along the same lines,' Hermione rolled her eyes looking exasperated. 'Honestly, boys.'

'It was a joke,' Blaise looked unperturbed by her cold demeanor, instead all of his thoughts were focused on remembering a spell that would work. 'We could just use calvario and accio. Calvario removes the subjects hair, and we could accio some of the hair. It's in Curses and Counter-Curses.' He said before Hermione could question his knowledge.

'So, lets head out before we lose our confidence.' Harry ran his hand through his hair, trying to hide his nervousness.

'Now?' Neville squeaked out.

'Of course, the longer we have to think things through, the more time we'll have to doubt our choices.' Hermione stated, looking quite unsure herself.

'It's all for the betterment of the school,' Blaise muttered to himself reassuringly. The Quartet moved out of the library trying to be as inconspicuous as they could. They likewise sneaked up the two sets of stairs before silently making their way to the door.

'This seems to easy,' Harry whispered as they came upon the door. As the more paranoid of the bunch it gave him a bad feeling, shouldn't an adult of some kind be watching the floor?

'No time for second thoughts,' Hermione whispered back before hissing alohomora. 'Blaise, on the ready, 3, 2, 1.' The instant she opened the door Blaise pointed his wand at the beast.

'Calvario!' Blaise exclaimed the correct spell, resulting in the dog losing it's hair. Of course, by the time that had happened the beast had seen them and each head was snarling and drooling. There was series of clicks as Harry manned the camera and Blaise was left stuttering instead of summoning some hair.

'Accio hair!' Neville tried his hand at the spell and failed. Apparently Blaise had forgotten to mention it was a fourth year spell, and neglected to show him the proper hand movements. Grimacing Harry made up his mind, well aware that his mother would ground him if she knew what he was about to do- and ran into the room and grabbed some of the hair, running out before the dog managed to bit him.

'Door! Door!' He exclaimed as he stuffed the hair into his pocket and started charging down the hall. Hermione barely managed to shut the door before she went running after him, quickly followed by Blaise.

'Colloportus,' Neville wisely locked the door with a simple spell before running right after the other three. All in all, mission accomplished.

* * *

><p>'That was stupid,' Harry muttered, admonishing himself as he tied the mounds of dog hair he had retrieved into four separate small bundles, none thicker than a marker.<p>

'Agreed,' Blaise nodded in agreement as he looked at the sets of photo's Harry had gotten. He set them in four separate envelope's and put each of the bundle's into each envelope before sealing them. He handed one to Neville, one to Harry, and kept the other two for himself. 'Remember to keep them safe, don't let anyone find them. If all of us have one then even if one gets confiscated by the headmaster, we can still get everything out.'

'What about Hermione's?' Neville pointed to hers with a frown.

'I haven't seen her all day,' Harry shrugged and Blaise nodded.

'I was going to give it to her at the feast tonight.'

'Maybe you should put it in your room for now,' Neville disagreed, 'she wouldn't want it with her at the feast.'

'He's got a point there,' Harry nodded, a grimace flashing across his face as he imagined having a packet of thick beast hair in his pocket while he's eating delectables.

'Alright, we'll give it to her at herbology then,' Blaise shrugged not bothered by it in the least. 'We'll go put these in our common room and see you in the main hall?' Blaise stood up, looking at Neville inquiringly.

'Course,' with a firm nod Neville stood up as well. 'I'll try and figure out where Hermione is on the way, I'm bound to run into some Ravenclaws.'

'Great,' Harry grinned, genuinely pleased that they might find Hermione, 'let us know if you find anything.' Blaise and Harry walked down to their common room, both deep in thought.

'You know, the last I saw our favourite mudblood she was running away from Ron.' Harry frowned at Blaises words, both because of what he called her, and from Ron's possible bullying. He never understood why the Italian used such derogatory terms for his friends.

'You think she's okay?'

'I'm sure she's fine, girls need to be left alone when they're upset. Besides, what's the worst that could happen?'

'Good point,' Harry grinned before saying their password, basilisk, and heading to his room to hide his letter in his chest.

'You're just putting it in there?' Blaise looked at the chest suspiciously then incredulously at Harry.

'Yeah, mum put an anti-thieving charm on it,' Harry shrugged, not completely sure of what she did to it. All he knew was that she assured him nobody would get in, and she had her familiar conniving glint in her eyes so he trusted her.

'I suppose,' Blaise shrugged before putting on a new set of robes.

'How many times must you change your robes,' Harry adjusted his robes, that he had on the whole day, and followed Blaise out of their dorm room.

'It's a celebratory _feast_, Harry, you're supposed to be clean and put together.'

'I am,' the two continued debating about inconsequential things as they walked to the main hall.

'Nothing.'

'What?' Harry and Blaise both exchanged confused looks at Neville's blunt words. To be honest, neither of them even noticed Neville till he had spoken up.

'I've heard absolutely nothing about where Hermione is,' Neville chewed on his lip anxiously, worried about their only female friend.

'I'm sure she'll turn up,' Blaise frowned and stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking confused. 'A prefect is probably going to find her and bring her here, they'll notice she's missing.' Smiling reassuringly at Neville, Blaise started walking off to the Slytherin table, looking completely unenthused with the floating pumpkins and other Halloween decorations.

'I suppose he's right,' Neville sighed before looking at down at Harry, who was just that little bit shorter. 'If we don't see her midway through supper we should look for her.'

Harry nodded sharply, his green eyes scanning the students around them as if trying to solve a murder mystery, 'we'll try and figure out more. Enjoy your supper.' Smiling weakly he went to turn to his table, but Neville cleared his throat, going red.

'L-look, I know your parents died tonight. A-and I just wanted to say that I'll remember them and what they did for you, and us. Because if they didn't then, you wouldn't be here,' before Harry could say anything Neville had ducked away to the Gryffindor table, reluctantly taking a seat beside one of the infamous Weasley twins.

Smiling to himself, Harry walked to the Slytherin table, taking the first seat on the left side that was right where the second years started. The highest ranking female and male always sat on the border between their year and the higher one, and Harry was still shocked to see that it was him and Pansy sitting across from the each other with her, of course, sitting on the right side of the table. 'Pansy,' he greeted with a nod of his head.

'Harry,' she inclined her head as well, looking upset that Daphne had the spot claimed beside her.

'Now Pansy, is that any way to greet your _superior_?' Daphne smiled wolfishly, being sure to point out that Pansy hadn't become the representative for their year, as she had been doing for the whole month.

'Oh, of course,' Pansy droned, 'my apologies.'

'No need,' Harry smirked feeling amused, as always, by their harmless conflict. 'Say, do you guys know what happened to Granger part way through the day?'

'What? That mudblood?' Theodore questioned, his mouth scrunching up with distaste. 'No, and good riddance.'

'I know what happened,' Tracey leaned forwards so she could see Harry, she was right beside Blaise who as always claimed his left side.

'What?' Blaise came to attention, focusing on the girl who steadily went pink from his attention.

'As you know the DADA room and transfiguration are quite close, well when she was leaving she overheard that Weasley kid calling her a stuck up know it all, he made a point of saying that you two only hung out with her for her smarts. Said she had no friends and her only point in life was doing other people's homework.'

'Well, that's unoriginal,' Blaise rolled his eyes looking like he didn't care, yet Harry and him both shared concerned glances. Hermione had always been sensitive about such things, she really wanted friends but her own personality got in the way. It really was a low blow.

'When I was coming to the feast I stopped by the washroom on the first floor and I heard her crying,' Pansy stage whispered, quickly catching on that Blaise and Harry were interested in the subject. 'But with the way she sounded, she could have been Moaning Myrtle,' Pansy laughed in her usual chittering way, oblivious to the angry look that grew in Harry's eyes, making them shine much like the infamous Avada spell. He looked at the Gryffindor table, clenching his jaw when he caught view of Ron. He hissed words under his breath for a spell he had read in his mother's book of the Old Religion. He had no idea what it did, but he figured that it would be worth it, Ronald must be punished and he would rather doing it himself. After all, the Old Religion was all about balance, what better balance for bullying than a well placed curse?

Harry and Blaise both stayed at the table, eating what little they could manage, before standing up to leave. They didn't want to make it obvious that they were seeking out Hermione, it wasn't that they were ashamed of their friendship, the whole castle knew about it. However, it was important that they didn't emphasize how much she meant to them, lest someone take advantage of it. As the two boys made their way to the doors Neville joined them, as well as a frantic Quirrell.

'Troll! Troll in the dungeon! Thought you ought to know,' the teacher fainted right in the middle of the boys, and they quickly parted causing the teacher to hit the floor.

'Hermione's in the first floor bathroom,' Harry hissed before looking at Neville and Blaise.

'We have to go get her!' Neville exclaimed, his face paling at the extremity of the situation. A three headed dog was bad enough, but a troll too?

'Wait,' Harry raised his hand and shook his head. 'Hermione will last, we need to stop our house and Hufflepuff's from leaving, both dormitories are in the dungeons.' Blaise went to Snape and spoke to him as Neville ran to the Hufflepuff head of house, leaving Harry by the doorway waiting for them. They sneaked out of the hall as Dumbledore, wisely, announced for those two houses to stay put.

'I can't believe the teachers didn't realise that themselves,' Neville muttered, quite upset, as they made their way to the washroom Hermione was supposedly in.

'I can't believe that Weasel bullied her,' Harry joined into Neville's negativity as Blaise nodded, agreeing with everything being said. 'Wait, how are we supposed to deal with a troll?'

'Took you long enough,' Blaise rolled his eyes, 'I told our head of house that Hermione was in the bathroom, as well as the Ravenclaw head of house. They should be heading here too.'

'Then why are _we _going?' Harry frowned, it wasn't that he didn't want to help his friend, he just didn't see the point of risking his life if he knew she was going to be safe. His words were quickly cut off by a piercing feminine scream.

'I guess t-thats why,' Neville smirked looking at Harry as if he were amused by the timing of it all before they ran to the girl's bathroom. Harry grimaced, his mind was against saving her but his body was almost ready to act on it's own and help her. He truly hated risking his life.

'I guess, sometimes you've got to do what you know is right, and damn the consequences,' Harry clutched his wand and stared at the door to the washroom with a growing sense of unease, well aware that was no time to waste. Squeezing his eyes shut he shook his head before charging in, Blaise and Neville coming in right after him.

The first thing they noticed was the smell, the putrid, rotting smell, like somebody had left their soggy gym clothes in the locker for the better part of the year. The second thing they noticed was Hermione's small form huddled under a sink, staring fearfully at the brute of a troll that was swinging it's club down at her.

'Hey! Leave her alone!' Neville picked up a piece of shattered porcelain and tossed it at the troll, paling when the creature grunted and stared at him.

'Nice,' Blaise drawled, 'really thought that one through, didn't you?'

'Yeah, well you do better,' Neville snapped back, apparently forgetting his nervousness at the door. 'We need a plan of action.'

'Alright,' Blaise nodded approvingly, 'Harry, you try and get around the troll and save Hermione, Neville and I will distract him.'

'Gotcha,' nodding Harry followed their, rather measly, plan. Quickly finding himself under the sink with a petrified Hermione. 'Come on,' without letting her say anything he pulled her along the line of sinks until they got back to where Neville and Blaise were distracting the troll. In a moment of harebrained Gryffindor mindset Harry pulled out the camera he still had from the dog incident and snapped as many photos as he could of the troll, they needed evidence.

'Let's get out of here,' not willing to fight the troll longer than they had to Blaise guided the group out of the washroom, pushing them along until they got to a portrait of a few fruits. Without pause he tickled the pear and pushed them in as soon as the portrait swung open. The four kids breathed out a collective sigh of relief, only to marvel at the kitchens. 'Welcome to Hogwarts kitchens,' Blaise waved his arms around before guiding Hermione to a seat.

'Could we please get some tea?' Neville asked a small creature with large floppy ears that Harry eventually recognized as a house elf. His mother had never bought a house elf, she thought it would be better for him to learn responsibility through chores, which she helped with as well.

'Right away young masters,' the house elf scurried around to gather the necessary things. Harry and Neville quickly claimed seats beside Hermione who was rubbing her eyes frantically, trying to get rid of the tears.

'We know what happened,' Harry's tone was low and threatening, indicating just how angry he was with Ron.

'You're angry with me! Oh, it's true,' she cried out looking ready to burst into another set of tears. Instantly Harry's eyes widened and he looked shocked as Neville and Blaise both sent him glares for setting her off.

'N-no I-'

'What Harry means, is that he's not happy with Ron,' Neville reassured her as he started rubbing her back soothingly. 'None of us are, it's not true, you know that right? You're our friend because we want you to be.'

'B-but I _am _annoying and a know it all, and, and, I am insufferable!'

'The only moment you are insufferable is when you're being unfair to yourself, like now,' Blaise frowned and awkwardly patted her head. With guys he could be as touchy feely as he wanted but he always felt like he was crossing some line when it came to girls. 'If you were so bad we wouldn't hang out with you.'

'If you were as bad as he says, we would never have sought you out knowing there was a troll on the loose around where you were,' Harry added in. Hermione sniffled, taking Blaise's handkerchief with a sniffly thanks.

'You knew?' She whispered in disbelief as she patted the tears away from her eyes.

'Of course,' Harry took the handkerchief from her and wiped her nose, annoyed that she was trying to keep the handkerchief so clean, it was made for cleaning so, therefore, she must use it for such. She flushed at being treated like a child but Harry didn't even notice.

'We're your friends, Hermione,' Neville handed her one of the four mugs that had appeared onto the table in front of them. 'As soon as we knew what had happened we were determined to find you, troll or not.'

'Thank you,' Hermione smiled weakly, looking genuinely thankful. And of course she was, how could she not when the three ran into danger just for her.

'No problem, princess,' Blaise beamed as Harry and Neville snickered, watching as Hermione went red.

'What's that for?'

'Well, aren't princess always damsels in distress? You were in distress, you are a damsel, and we saved you, you're like our own personal princess. And we're your knights in shining armour.'

'I don't know what you're talking about,' she looked into her tea, drinking it to distract herself from her flushed cheeks. However, Hermione didn't have the heart to feel annoyed, rather she felt a bubbling warmth that she hadn't thought she would ever feel, let alone identify. It was contentment, despite almost dying she was content because for once she had good friends that she got along with.

* * *

><p>'Oh dear Merlin,' Lily sighed exasperated as she collapsed into the chair beside Morgana. 'What has he done now?'<p>

'Your son has taken a picture of and personally gotten the hair off of a three headed dog,' Morgana dropped the photos and a small bundle of hair on the table in front of them. She had a feeling that Harry was leaving something out, other than that, but she would have to wait to find out. He could hide whatever he wanted in letters, but he was defenseless face to face.

'_My son_, now he's _my_ son?' Lily sighed, barely having enough energy for disbelief.

'Yes, he's always been your son,' Morgana argued back. 'Nonetheless I'll have to figure out his plan of action, I'm not going to have my son going to a school where they have a three headed beast in a corridor that even first years can get into.'

'Perhaps Amelia could help? I heard she's taken office,' Lily frowned as she stared at the tea in front of Morgana, she wished she were corporeal enough to drink tea, she could barely smell it as well.

'Perhaps the goblins would be eager to help as well,' Morgana picked up her tea as if taunting Lily with the fact that she couldn't have any. 'It's always nerve wracking to involve the ministry, I hardly trust them with my sons schooling, let alone his safety.

'And now he's your son again,' Lily mused with a smile on her lips. Morgana kept drinking her tea as if she didn't hear the spirit, but a smirk was curling at her lips, making it obvious she did hear her.

'The important part of our business lies upon gaining control of this Dumbledore, who knows who could come in his stead if we get rid of him. Instead we should seek to make sure we have an understanding. So how much do we tell the public? If we tarnish his image too much he might get forced out.'

'Perhaps it would be best if he were forced out,' Lily disagreed, 'I know the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts. We can trust her, and she would naturally be his successor.'

'She is trustworthy?' Morgana brushed her black hair out of her eyes, focusing on the letter in front of her.

'Of course,' Lily nodded assured of herself. 'She was also apart of the MLE,' at Morgana's blank look she said what it meant, 'magical law enforcement. She would understand what to do.'

'But at the same time she is aware of this creature and is letting it in the school.'

'She may not have a choice, Dumbledore was her mentor in transfiguration.'

'Alright,' Morgana sighed humming in agreement, 'I suppose I'll have to wait and see about her. But as it is, now we must involve enforcement of some kind.' She always dreaded involving others, especially people of authority, but she supposed she had no choice. Not when Harry's life was in danger. She was tempted to storm Hogwarts herself, but with no magic and the Old Religion's own personal mascot scolding her for every potentially evil action she doubted it would go well.

* * *

><p><span><strong>StormSky:<strong> Awww thanks! And totally me too, I don't get why people are so blind with him. He's quest for the "greater good" is just an excuse and sounds a LOT like what he and Grindelwald were up to in their teens. Yeah Malfoy Sr. is not going to be happy, at all. True, but I see more hardened since she left camelot for Morgause (it is totally the Morgana from Merlin, love the show ^^).

**IamnotTHATbad:**Yeah, I get what you mean but with the melding of dimensions between shows things are always going to be lacking. But since Rowling had Merlin in Slytherin that implies he was at Hogwarts, so naturally Morgana would be too. And I totally get it I feel the same, but I'm trying to keep my story interesting. Whether it aligns with what you like, well, I have no clue, I can only hope you continue to like it. :)

**Medusa's Basilisk:** Thanks! He'll totally be humiliating Ron, but whether people realize that he caused it? That's yet to be seen...

**Penny is wise:** Thank you! Yeah, he's easy to tug around currently...he'll buff up eventually!

**DZ2:** Awww thanks! Yeah, he's going straight down... I hardly think he'll try to redeem himself. She is going to cause chaos :)

**Elim Garak:** Ahhh okay, will do. Though I did mean withhold, as in to refuse to give up. Because all though he was failing at his task he could have fought to keep it and refuse to give it up. At that point it was past upholding his task as that would be maintaining it. Yeah, I don't always associate the right words with what I'm thinking. I'll go fix that now.

**otah to order:** I wasn't planning it to go that way, I don't really see them as compatible, personally. Though I suppose they can banter like an old married couple sometimes...

**Shadowsmage**: So true, and I'm definitely planning on it. Haven't had a chance to show off his true jerkdom yet.

**mwinter1:** Same, but I'm unsure with what they want to happen. I haven't quite chosen yet, but knowing Morgana she would try and do it all herself rather than going to the MLE.

**whatweareafreaidof:** The reason why there are so many bashing fics is merely because Ron is made of the characteristics that people dislike. So, naturally, since I dislike him I will highlight all of those points. It's not about originality but about expressing my perception of him. And I must say there are more fics in which he is a good person, or rather, not bashed. As it is true that there are more bad wizards is Slytherin, that does not mean all Slytherins are evil, that kind of thinking is black and white and is often viewed as childish. Slytherin is the house of the cunning, ambitious, and those who believe in connections. Slytherin also believes in the brotherhood, or standing firm for your comrades and supporting them, that is not evil.

**The Wandmaker****:** Thank you! Yeah, I don't like him at all. The unloyal infuriate me, must be my dormant Hufflepuff traits coming out :P yeah, Harry is definitely not going to lay down and take it as much as his previous incarnation. Awesome! I'm glad you like it! She will, eventually... When the old religion deems her worthy.


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